
Do you ever wonder just exactly where the platinum in your platinum diamond engagement ring comes from? Like gold, this precious metal has a long and complex history that originates in Ancient Egypt. In the Old World nobody is sure who might of discovered it but the platinum ring has been discovered in Egyptian burial tombs. Evidence has also been found that shows that people of Central and South America were using platinum in metal as early as 100 B.C.
It seems platinum was common in the days before Christ but then disappeared from common knowledge until the 1600s when Spanish conquistadors discovered platinum artifacts and jewelry in the New World. This is the point in history at which platinum got its name "platina" which in Spanish means "small silver." Still nobody got excited about this "new metal" until the French King Louis XVI noticed a ring and gave it the inflated title of "the metal of kings."
It seems platinum was common in the days before Christ but then disappeared from common knowledge until the 1600s when Spanish conquistadors discovered platinum artifacts and jewelry in the New World. This is the point in history at which platinum got its name "platina" which in Spanish means "small silver." Still nobody got excited about this "new metal" until the French King Louis XVI noticed a ring and gave it the inflated title of "the metal of kings."
For centuries the only platinum found outside of South America was found in Russia and these mines were not very profitable as the metal was so hard that it was difficult to manipulate it into anything useful or decorative such as platinum diamond engagement rings. It wasn't long before this "smaller silver" became more valuable then gold when technology developed better ways to utilize it artistically.
During the last part of the 19th century, and the first half of the 20th, the ring of choice was a platinum diamond engagement ring. This metal dominated jewelry designs up until the 1930s when the arrival of the first world war dictated that the precious metal only be used for the making of weapons. Of course the metal is very much back in evidence today especially when it comes to the creation of still very traditional and still very much-cherished platinum diamond engagement rings.By Kate Neville












