The oldest record of platinum use is as an inlay in ancient Egypt. However, the Egyptians, though a variation of electrum (a natural mixture gold and silver.) Native Americans used for centuries in small decorative objects. Platinum was unknown to Europeans until Spanish discovered in Colombia. The Spanish called it platina, which means silver. It was identified as a new metal until 1700. The metal was introduced into Europe from South America in the mid-century XVIII. It is always found in association with other metals, chiefly Rhodium, osmium, iridium, palladium.

Platinum is one of the rarest and purest metals precious in the world. The perfect jewelry material for these fortuitous times, Platinum is regarded by many as a "new metal". Platinum has remained high esteem as a symbol of wealth and nobility, the true value of platinum was appreciated until the eighteenth century, when Europeans began to recognize Platinum's beauty. As a matter indeed, of France, Louis XVI proclaimed the only metal fit for royalty. Legendary jewelry such as Cartier, Faberge and Tiffany created their timeless designs in platinum. World famous diamonds including the Hope and Koh-I-Noor, are secured permanently in platinum.

Platinum reached its peak in 1900, when was the preferred metal for all types of fine jewelry in the United States. Dominated the world of jewelry design during the Edwardian era, the Art Deco period and up well into the 1930s. At the onset of World War II, however, the U.S. government platinum declared a "strategic metal" and its use in non-military applications, including jewelry, was banned.

Very few countries have platinum supplies, with South Africa (80%) and Russia (11%), representing approximately 90% of world supply. Annual production from these mines is only 150 tonnes, which is 1 / 25 of annual gold production. By Moreover, the amount of platinum that can be produced from raw ore is relatively small. To make only a small ring of approximately 3 grams of required approximately 1 ton of raw ore.

Today, platinum is more valuable than gold. Although it is used in many industrial applications including the automotive industry, platinum jewelry constantly commands higher prices than gold, even pure, because of their rarity.

Two of the best ways to find platinum, scrap is cheaper through catalytic converters and scrap platinum jewelry. Because platinum prices is as high as in the past times, many people are becoming victims of thieves who steal catalytic converters. Before you had to worry about your tires, stereos and GPS systems, just like that.

A catalyst is used to reduce the toxicity of emissions from internal combustion engines. They were first introduced in cars in the U.S. market for model year 1975 to comply with tightening EPA regulations on auto exhaust. Each catalytic converter contains between three and seven grams of platinum. Not a bad catch if you can find a legal way. Catalytic converters are also used in generators, forklifts, mining equipment, trucks, buses, trains, engines and other machines fitted.

From the scrap yards, the converters to open path in the metal recycling industry, where platinum and other precious elements, including palladium and rhodium, are removed and used to build high-tech machinery, including more catalytic converters.

Despite being brought to the forefront thanks to thieves stealing catalytic converters remains platinum seams to be the big unknown in scrap. Some good places to find old scarp are catalysts for the local junkyards, classified online, such as Craiglist, U.S. FreeAds and Kiji. Another great being lower than the price of platinum is because they have to be extracted, and the price is passed to you.

Now there is a second way to find the cheapest scrap platinum and that is through jewelry. Again the best places to find the best deals on jewelry platinum is through flea markets and garage sales, followed by Craigslist, we FreeAds, Kizhi and Ebay. Or if you are really resourceful you can invest in a metal detector and expect the best.

What's so great about scrap platinum jewelry? However, the number of buyers and sellers of knowledge are low. The Most people do not understand that platinum jewelry is 90% platinum and the other 10% consists of a platinum group metal. If you call around to your house local pawn shop, junk dealers, scrap yards, coins and jewelry stores, you'll find that most of them are paying the same for platinum jewelry as 14k gold and some may pay close to what they pay for 18 carat gold. They are taking advantage of the majority of sellers out there who simply do not understand what they have.

If you find the cheapest scrap platinum is looking for then the next step is to locate a refiner of platinum, preferably in your area and get their schedules or purchase prices. It aims to locate a refiner who will pay for the values of "residual" in your scrap alloy. The key is needed to ensure that you provide a minimum of 10 to 12 ounces Troy, to be paid for all metals not only 90% platinum.

Visit The Scrap Metal Shop for cheap prices on scrap platinum.

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