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 Production of platinum was initiated relatively recently however it seized the minds of the scientists for its exclusive physical peculiarities.
But the concerned were merely jewelers who managed
to finally bless this metal as the most noble and precious among other metals in
«collaboration» of the most famous brands in jewelry world and with the help of
the most elegant and charming women of the planet.
The history
of platinum as well as that of gold and other precious metals, dated back
million years. But even if the archeological findings attested indisputable evidence
of the meaning that our ancestry attached to gold, use of silver in making cups,
dishes and other staff of everyday use - relate to 2500 B.C. at least, then bad
of the platinum have absolutely other
way not straight absolutely. And only the name of the metal reveals the great mistake
from which suffered Spanish conquistadors when chasing the gold in the South America
New Grenada they faced with significant and unevaluated traces of white gold.
It
was considered as silver not knowing its origin in spite of the fact that
platinum is harder, heavier and more solid,
and it was named «platina», that is «small silver» (in Spanish «plata» means
silver). Honestly speaking, a bit earlier conquistadors were in know of the
platinum and it was also valued by Inca: small items from pure platinum were
discovered in the beginning of our century in the Ecuadorian part of Esmeraldas
and dated back from I to IV centuries D.C. This is the evidence that Inca were
familiar with the metal; they could mine and process it considering it as a
precious stone. However this is a single example in the history of platinum from
the point of view of time and geography. Thesis on the obviousintroduction
to the platinum with ancient people could not be even related to material evidences of the Egyptian culture.
Platinum is present in some jewelry
belonged to pharaohs of the eighteen dynasty (1551-1306 г до
Р.Х.), and in the box of VIII century B.C.
that belonged to the Priestess Shepenupet I, but this was only alloys where the
metal id mixed with gold that evidence the fact that the Egyptians were not aware
of its nature; they could not separate the platinum from other metals they
mined in the pits.
And the
most expensive metal in the world was ignored for longer time, since it was
considered as silver of the poorest quality, and even the Spanish conquistadors
neglected it. Further on not very much changed -at least to the middle of the seventeenth
century in Europe there were no samples of «new»
metal. Then mean merchants proceeded to use it for making fake gold (the
unknown metal weighted a bit heavier than gold, and those times was much
cheaper). The |Government of Spain
forbade using the platinum and started to extract it from the depositaries to
further sink in the river. Only to the middle of the eighteenth century
platinum went out of that paradox «prison» to turn into the matter much and
thoroughly studied by the scientists.
Among the most
attractive contributions we can mark the Sweden scientist Teofill Sheffer who first
defined that platinum is an independent metal, but not the alloy of gold with
iron or «white gold» as many thought that time. He was the first to manage and
melt the platinum with insignificant quantity of arsenic. The Deutsch Zigmund
Marggraff separated platinum from other metals in mixture met in nature; the
French scientists Macquier and Biome are the authors of the interesting
experiments on forging of the white gold. Beyond the scientifica laboratories
the most important figure in the history of platinum was the French scientist
Ethien Jean, the court jeweler of post-revolution period. Using the method created
by Theofill Sheffer, he invented the sugar pot nowadays kept in New York museum of art,
and the coffee pot lost further. Thanks to him platinum won the positions of
the precious metal.
If we exclude
some splendid but isolated examples of the seventeenth century of «aristocratic»
use of platinum, then the real discovery of platinum capacity in the jewelry
industry related to the threshold of our time. Luis Cartier was one of the pioneers
of the new course who introduced successful blend of platinum, diamonds in the
sphere where the absolute dominance of gold was never argued. In 1895 in
regards of his Exhibition, he presented the entire collection of jewelry from
platinum. That was triumph. Extreme perception by public and analogous
orientation of the great jewelers, first of all Van Kliff and Arpels, Faberge
and Tiffani son brought the platinum to the very new level - Art Deco.
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