Precious metals and stones

Moissanite

WHAT IS MOISSANITE?

In 1893, the Nobel Prize-winning French scientist Dr. Henry Moissan examined meteorite particles from Arizona's Diablo Canyon. Here he discovered a minute quantity of a glittering mineral, and found it to be formed of silicon carbide. In 1905, this mineral was named Moissanite in his honor.

In nature, Moissanite occurs only in small quantities. It took more than a hundred more years for top experts to produce and perfectly cut the large moissanite crystals and turn it into a dazzling gemstone.

Moissanite is the second hardest gemstone in the world after diamond. It also has very similar properties - hardness 9.25, gloss 20.40% and even 2.5 times more fire than diamond. To the untrained eye, it is almost impossible to tell a moissanite and a diamond apart. Moissanite, thanks to its properties, but also several times lower price, makes an ideal gem for jewellery for everyday wear.

You can read more about the comparison of moissanite and diamond in the article Diamonds or moissanite.

Platinum

Platinum has been used for thousands of years and is one of the three precious metals - gold, silver, and platinum. It has the hallmark of being the rarest and most expensive precious metal.

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MEET PLATINUM

Platinum was discovered in Europe only in the 16th century as a grey-white infusible metal. The ancient Greeks and Romans apparently knew platinum, because the writings of Pliny speak of a white metal that appears together with gold in gold-bearing sands and is heavier than gold.

It was not until 1750 that platinum was found to have different properties than gold and silver. The name platinum is derived from the Spanish word plata, which means silver. Platinum, in the past called white gold, is an alloy of gold and iron.

Later in 1777, platinum was thoroughly investigated and found to be an element with specific properties that differ greatly from those of gold and silver. It is found very rarely in pure form, mostly in compounds with platinum metals, gold, nickel, and other metals.

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Platinum is most widely used in the jewellery industry, as well as in the chemical industry, in medicine, and in new branches of modern industrial production. Platinum metals are also found under the names palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, and iridium. They are similar in colour to platinum but have different physical properties. Platinum is considered to be 10 times rarer than gold.

Palladium is lighter in colour than platinum and has a high metallic lustre. In goldsmithing, it is used in alloys with gold and silver. This creates a soft white gold alloy that is used to set the gemstone in jewellery.

Rhodium is used in the jewellery industry in the plating of jewellery, so-called rhodium plating. Gold jewellery has a naturally yellowish colour, and to achieve a bright white effect, the jewellery is always rhodium-plated at the end of the production process, which gives it a bright white. Some goldsmiths do not practice this last step because they want to acknowledge the natural colour of the gold. In our goldsmith studio, SALABA, we always rhodium plate jewellery from white gold.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Platinum (Pt) has a density of 21.5 kg/dm3 and a melting point of 1773 °C. Platinum is black and white in colour and has a high gloss. It is malleable, malleable, soft and tough. It is stable in the air. It resists hydroxides and acids and, unlike silver, does not tarnish. Only hot royal jelly dissolves it.

Platinum is a very rare precious metal, only around 200 tonnes are mined annually. Compared to gold or other precious metals, this is only a fraction.

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PLATINUM ADVANTAGES

Platinum is an anti-allergic metal, so we recommend platinum jewellery to everyone who is irritated by other precious metals. Platinum does not contain any admixtures of other metals, which makes platinum jewellery hypoallergenic.

Due to its high hardness, this metal is ideal for diamond jewellery. The diamonds are held very firmly in the platinum, and the wearer certainly does not have to worry about any unwanted clearance.

Another advantage of platinum is that it cannot be scratched, which makes it an ideal precious metal for everyday jewellery.

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PLATINUM JEWELLERY IN THE SALABA GOLDSMITH STUDIO

All rings that you can find in our e-shop are also made of platinum. A platinum engagement ring is a beautiful carrier of pure love. We also offer platinum wedding rings. We offer a limited selection of platinum earrings, but we are happy to make you a custom piece of platinum jewellery.

You can read more information about platinum rings here.

Gems

JEWELLERY WITH PREMIUM STONES

Precious stones are called minerals (minerals) or even rocks, which with their exceptional properties COLOUR, SHINE, HARDNESS or ABILITY TO BREAK LIGHT RAYS - they stand out from other minerals.

A mineral that had a hardness higher than 7 on the Mohs hardness scale was considered a gemstone. The most popular gemstones include diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, beryl, spinel, etc.

BELOW YOU WILL FIND PRECIOUS STONES SORTED BY COLOUR SPECTRUM:

Clear - Diamond, Moissanite, Zircon, Crystal
White - Opal, Pearl (pearl shade), Coral
Pink - Rose gold, Garnet, Topaz, Tourmaline, Japanese pearl, Coral
Red - Ruby, Spinel, Tourmaline, Garnet, Jasper, Coral, Carnelian
Yellow – Citrine, Jasper, Sapphire, Topaz, Tourmaline, Amber
Green – Emerald, Chrysoprase, Tourmaline, Olivine
Blue – Sapphire, Spinel, Topaz, Aquamarine, Tourmaline, Jasper, Chalcedony
Teal - Turquoise, Emerald, Tourmaline
Purple – Amethyst, Sapphire, Spinel, Tanzanite
Black - Black Pearl, Hematite

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Hall, Cally: Precious Stones, A Pictorial Guide to Over 130 Varieties of Precious Stones from Around the World. Martin 1996.
Korbel, Petr, Milan, Novák: Encyclopedia of Minerals. Dobřejovice 1999.
Crowe, Judith: Precious Stones and Jewellery. Prague 2007.

Gold

Gold is one of the few natural metals found in the earth in a usable state without having to be refined or smelted. Other such metals are silver, copper, and platinum.

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MEET THE GOLD

Gold was known and highly valued for the manufacture of jewellery long ago in ancient times. The oldest deposits of gold were discovered probably 5,000 years ago in India, from where they reached Babylonia and Persia. In Egypt, it was also mined in Nubia at that time. The Phoenicians knew how to mine and process gold before the Greeks and Romans.

Gold is found almost all over the world. The discoveries of gold deposits during the 19th century were unbelievable. They included the years of the "gold rushes" in the USA - in Alaska and California, in South Africa, Australia, and Siberia.

In Bohemia, gold was mined and panned around the 8th century on the gold-bearing rivers Otava and Blanica, whose sands were rich with this metal. The most famous gold mines were near Jílové, where the gold was embedded in quartz veins. In the 13th and 14th centuries, gold was mined in the Kašperské Hory, where small amounts are still mined today.

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OCCURRENCE OF GOLD IN NATURE

In nature, pure gold is most often found in the form of grains or flakes, either in quartz veins that penetrate the rocks, or in alluvium created by the washing away of weathered gold-bearing rocks.

Larger pieces, so-called boulders, occur very rarely. One of the largest lumps of gold was found in Australia and weighed 70.9 kg. Other large boulders have been discovered in the USA, Russia, South Africa, and Brazil. A smaller amount of gold is mixed with kyzes - pyrites.

It is believed that to date, around 117,000 tonnes of this precious metal have been mined and panned around the world.

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The gold has a beautiful yellow colour and high lustre. The colour of gold depends on the amount and type of impurities it contains. Natural gold is typically yellowish, but when used in custom goldsmithing, its colour changes and its hardness increases.

If silver, platinum, nickel, or zinc are added, light or white gold is produced. Adding copper creates red or rose gold.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Gold (Au) has a density of 19.3 kg/dm3 and a melting point of 1,063 °C. The gold has a beautiful yellow colour and high lustre. It is very soft (T - 2.5). It is the most malleable and ductile metal on Earth. It can be hammered to a thickness of up to 0.0001 mm.

A thin wire of up to 1 km can be pulled from 1 g of pure gold. It is constant in the air. It is dissolved by royal jelly, mercury, potassium cyanide, and salt cyanide.

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PURITY OF GOLD

The purity of gold is determined by the proportion of pure gold present in the alloy and is expressed in a unit called karat - kt. The purest gold is 24 karat, while 18 karat gold is 75% pure gold and 14 karat gold is 58.5% pure gold. In gold jewellery, the remaining part of the alloy is most often silver. Among others, platinum, palladium, copper, zinc, nickel, and cadmium are also used.

Pure gold is used very little, only by goldsmiths and in plating in the chemical and technical industries. The price of gold on world markets is per troy ounce - 31.1 G.

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ADVANTAGES OF GOLD

Gold jewellery is suitable for all types of customers with sensitive skin or allergies to common metals.

Another advantage of gold is that it will satisfy any customer's wish regarding the colour of the metal. It is available in yellow, white, and rose gold. Yellow gold is traditional and classic. White gold suits fairer skin and has grown in popularity in recent years, along with the demand for platinum. Currently, the most modern is rose gold, which gently harmonises with the shade of the skin. It is especially suitable for young, modern women.

The value of gold jewellery does not decrease over time. In times of need, you have a stored investment in them.

We make all our SALABA gold jewellery in 14kt and 18kt white, yellow, and rose gold.

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