Platinum is the world's newest and rarest precious metal. The first known example of platinum goes back to prehistoric times in South America, where a small head statue is known to have been shaped out of the metal.

Archaeologists, have found traces of Platinum in Egyptian gold pieces dating back to 1400 B.C. But the Egyptians don't seem to have had a separate name for Platinum and probably regarded it as some form of silver. It was only around 100 to 300 A.D that platinum was understood as a separate metal by the Incas of South America. Their level of technological development was low compared to the Egyptian civilization but they developed a smelting process that produced a crudely refined form of Platinum 1500 years before anyone else. Samples of South American platinum reached Europe in the mid 1700's when it came to be called 'platina', spanish for little silver.

It was not until samples began arriving in Europe in the middle of the 18th Century, that processes to melt and refine platinum were applied. In 1801, English physician William Hyde Wollaston obtained the first pure sample and his methods still form the basis of the techniques which produce platinum today. Wollaston's discovery was an immediate commercial success and he and his collaborators went on to isolate other platinum group metals (PGMs).

In the late 1800's platinum mania swept through Europe and Russia. Kings, Queens, Tsars and Maharajas bedecked themselves with anything and everything platinum. Spain's King Charles IV commissioned a platinum room, while others wore gowns woven with platinum thread. Cartier, Faberge and Tiffany had great plans for platinum, creating legendary designs. And the world's most famous diamonds; the Star of Africa, the Hope, Jonker I and Koh-I-Noor nestle securely in the permanence of platinum settings.

In 1824, the Ural Mountains were found to harbor significant platinum deposits and by the end of the 19th Century, a new jewelry style had developed combining the "new" metal with diamonds from recently discovered mines in South Africa.

Early in the 1900s, platinum popularity captivated America, setting the platinum standard so famously appropriated by Hollywood. Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe were the consummate "platinum blondes"; glamour personified. 

In 1924 South Africa became a rich source of platinum itself when German geologist Hans Merensky discovered the largest deposits ever found.

At the outset of WWII, the US government declared platinum a strategic metal, disallowing its use for jewelry. Americans made do with white gold and by the end of the war, platinum had temporarily become a lost art.

Fifty years and a steady climb to the pinnacle, platinum has regained its enormous popularity. Since the early 1990's, platinum remains the preferred metal among various celebrities. It is regarded as the symbol of beauty and timelessness, the ultimate in elegance.

All the platinum ever mined would occupy a cube 25 feet on each side. One gram of platinum could stretch into a wire over a mile long; a six-inch platinum cube is about as heavy as the average man. It takes ten tons of raw ore and six months of refining to produce one ounce of pure platinum. Some of platinum's inherent value comes from the fact that it's heavy and durable. If you hold two identical pieces of jewelry, one made of platinum and the other made of gold, you'll find the platinum piece weighs about 60% more.

One in every five consumer products either contains platinum or is produced using platinum. The jewelry industry utilizing the beauty and elegance of platinum, accounts for nearly 40% of total consumption, by far the largest application of platinum.

Although demand has soared in the past decade, supplies are limited to only a few mining sources. Platinum is the active pollution-fighting element in an automobile's catalytic converter and is also used to fight emissions in factories, bakeries and dry cleaning operations. These vital roles have continuously increased demand for this rare and beautiful metal. In the past decade, manufacturing demand has risen 79%. In the exploding high-technology industry, platinum is integral to the manufacture of fiber optic wires, semiconductors, computer disks and the developing technology of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.

As a precious metal, platinum helps to diversify a portfolio comprised of traditional paper assets. Platinum is fundamentally an industrial commodity with many high-tech applications. Strong economic growth often generates increased demand for platinum.

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