Welcome to the Gilt Trips podcast. I'm your host, Kendra Lockhart. As a goldsmith and
gemologist, I'll be speaking 24 karat on all things jewelry, metals, and gems. Join
me plus a few friends to demystify both materials and designs as your private jeweler. Let's
tune in on these topics and get golden. Key phrases in our language that include metals
would be the gold standard platinum blonde watching it on the silver screen from idioms
in communication to descriptors of achievement to marketing a hair color. Metals are as malleable
of implied meanings as they are materials and jewelry. How did we assume their value?
What characteristics set precious metals apart from the rest? Where can we find them in other
industries and products? Let's answer these and discover the wonderful world of gold,
silver, and platinum as fine jewelry elements and beyond the art form of the metalsmiths
that have mastered them. Chapter timestamps will be in the show notes.
What are noble metals? In traditional jewelry, there is a trio. The three metals, gold, silver,
and platinum have specific characteristics. It is found in raw form and nature. It is
an element, not a compound. It is in the periodic chart and it resists corrosion or reaction
to oxidation, which yields tarnish. Also, it cannot be dissolved by most acids except
aqua regia, which means regal water. Much like gems, rarity and durability are important
factors for both its value and its use, where gems require hardness to be considered precious.
Metals need purity for their elevated value. So let's start with the most familiar of
all three. Gold. Gold is a chemical element and expressed with the symbol AU, the first
two letters of the Latin word Aurum. Now we know that ancient Rome borrowed its mythology
from the Greeks, so their word for gold comes from the word aurora. She was the golden goddess
of the dawn. Aurora, Aurum, and our individual aura all stem from the same origin of splendor,
radiance, and light associated with the sun. Gold is found in a few forms, nuggets, grains,
gold veining, in both rocks and water creating alluvial deposits, much like the diamonds
of the earth. Sometimes it is found in a compound with silver known as quote electrum, unquote.
And nitric acid can dissolve away the silver and leave the prospector with just the gold.
When we are confirming the presence of gold in a compound in this way, it is called the
acid test. Gold's primary uses are coinage, jewelry, and art. What makes it so unique
is that it's the world's most malleable of metals. Although it is dense, the softness
allows it to be shaped into ultra-thin wire and also being flattened into semi-transparent
sheets known as gold leaf or gold foil. The color of gold is also a big distinction. Most
metals are gray or appear white, but in its raw elemental form, gold is an orangish yellow.
That is until we alloy it or combine other metals into a recipe to change its hue, and
in the case of white and rose gold, we override its yellowishness. When fusing gold with platinum
or nickel metals, it becomes white gold. Raising the copper percent in the alloy produces rose
gold. If adding strictly silver, you get green gold. Even blue and purple gold can be created
using iron and aluminum respectively. Historically speaking, the oldest gold artifacts date back
to about 4500 BC in Bulgaria, and relatively soon gold items would appear in ancient Egypt
as smelting would be developed. What is smelting? It's using heat at various temperatures to
extract metals from other elements. And the form that has shifted from finding grave offerings
in Bulgaria to decorative uses in the Sumerian culture? That region would develop gold smithing
techniques, some of which are still used today.
Fast forward to biblical times. Gold is a major player in moral stories, like that of
the golden calf, or that it was one of the gifts of the Magi for the Christ child. And
in revelations, it described the fourth density as having streets made of pure gold. The Greeks
created the myth of golden fleece. Ancient China begins to use a gold cube as a type of
circulated money, and the Roman Empire made advances, like hydraulic mining, to accelerate
the time that was spent discovering gold. One of the main reasons gold became so global
is due to advances in traveling and discovering other lands. In the 14th century, a Saudi
Arabian ruler on a religious pilgrimage was passing through Cairo, and he charitably gave
away so much gold that it caused a decade long inflation by depressing the price of
the metal. And European exploration slash exploitation of the Americas, central and
South America primarily, it raided Mayan and Aztec cultures. Their term for gold was
quote, God excrement, unquote. And after their leader was killed, most of the supply was
shipped back to Spain. Was it a language barrier? A decoy to settle the score? We're talking
about the legend of El Dorado, meaning the golden one, which began as a mythical chief
who would cover himself with gold dust and submerge himself in a lake. The tale would
morph from man to city to kingdom to empire that inspired quests to find. Europe was also
investing centuries of trade routes with Africa and called the region the Gold Coast due to
large deposits found in that territory. And exchanges were had from tribes on that continent
to British, French, Spanish, and Danish merchants. Magically, gold played a role in folklore
and fables. Look at the cautionary tales of Rumpelstiltskin, King Midas, and the golden
goose in Jack and the Beanstalk. As for adult alchemy, the pursuit of discovering how to
turn lead into gold via science and chemistry, and in athletic competitions, where top prizes
are either made of gold or called gold as a level of placing and achieving. Beyond that,
great accomplishments and excellence is rewarded with gold or gold plating as medals, trophies,
and statues, such as the Oscars. Furthermore, it's found its way into perfecting or divine
principles, the golden rule, the golden ratio, golden anniversaries, golden age of a civilization,
which is referencing wisdom and enlightenment. As for gold's original to current usages,
golds play a big part in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Many cultures insist that rings
exchanged at weddings are to be made of gold for the vows before God. Or in Orthodox ceremonies,
a golden laurel, wreath crown, is worn at the time of making vows. Nowadays, gold production
is mostly from China, then Russia, then Australia. 50% of the gold yield goes into jewelry, and
a mere 10% is for electronics. Gold conducts heat and electricity. It strongly reflects
infrared light from the spectrum, so it's critical in heat shields. Alternative medicine
has used gold consumption for nervous disorders and rheumatoid arthritis. But you can find
it was the prominent material in restorative dentistry and performs better, in some cases,
than porcelain crowns and bridges. Gold has even made its way into the luxury foods and
beverages industry, often on desserts and in liqueurs. Since it is non-toxic and inert,
there is no harm in consuming a bit of gold. Did you ever wonder how many different values
and uses gold could have? The part I find most romantic is that approximately 30% of
the global gold supply is recycled, as gold can be refined an infinite number of times
to state change from alloy to element to alloying again. For all we know, the gold in your engagement
ring could have been mined centuries before and taken different forms. A crown for a king,
a frame for a painting, or a ceremonial plate long before it wrapped around your finger.
Next we have silver. This chemical element has the Latin name Argentum, translating
to shiny white and symbolized by the letters AG on the periodic table. It has the highest
electrical and thermal conductivity and the most reflectivity of any metal. When found
as a standalone deposit in nature, it is called native silver. It also occurs as a compound
with gold as I just mentioned, or a byproduct of mining for other metals like copper. Like
gold, it too was used in currency and found as ornamental objects back to prehistoric
times. While silver is more abundant than gold, structurally it's not as strong nor
as dense. That, plus being more reactive to gold, means having to find it in native form
could be more limited. What it does share characteristically is the malleability, ductile
or formable quality and conductivity. Historical application and acquisition of the resource
differs a bit from gold. There is evidence it was already successfully smelted in the
fourth millennium BC and produced in China, India, and Sardinia off the coast of Italy.
When the Phoenicians first explored Spain, they acquired so much silver they couldn't
fit it all on their boats and used it to anchor their ships instead of lead. By the time of
Greek and Roman empires, silver was a standard for coinage and currency respectively. Romans
had mastered their silver mining, which came to a halt with the fall of that empire for
centuries until the rise of Charlemagne. Did the discovery of North and South America
mean that Spanish conquistadors plundered silver too? Yes, it did. But a fun fact, Argentina
was named that due to it being so rich in silver. Again, the trade goes global, from
South America to Europe to China. Silver, quote, went round the world and made the world
go round. In the 19th century, production moved to North America. Canada, Mexico, and
the Southwest United States yielded material. Deposits got mined in Siberia, Poland, and
Australia. Today, Peru is the biggest producer, with Mexico being second. Where we find silver
throughout the ages is, as money, jewelry, table utensils, still called silverware to
this day, Western concert flutes have been made of sterling silver, which is an alloy
containing amounts of copper and zinc to fortify the silver, which unfortunately leads to
tarnishing and oxidation. It is a lighter material, so making larger items like vases
and tea services was more practical than using gold. Silver, being able to take a mirror
finish, was used as just that in the home, and silver foil behind glass would soon follow
as mirrors. In medicine, it was incorporated into wound dressings, instruments, and bandages
as it has antibacterial properties. It would be found in dental fillings, it is important
in electronics, and RFID technology, solar panels and water purification systems, a colorant
in stained glass. But my favorite interest for use is in photography as the base for
an image transfer. I would love to believe that my Tiffany's charm bracelet is a recycled
Roman plate or a dessert spoon from a French castle, bridging centuries and continents
in various forms and uses. Symbolically, silver has been thought to have mystical properties.
Think of the tales of the silver bullet as a weapon against vampires, werewolves, or
other supernatural beings. Folklore claims it facilitated passage to the fairy realm.
Biblically, it was 30 pieces of silver in the Bible used to reward Judas for betraying
Jesus. So yet again, we have a precious metal that worked its way into an association with
corruption of the human spirit. A bit more romantically, it was associated with lunar
energy for healing, dreams, and intuition for the wearer. Moon goddesses are often depicted
with silver weapons. It is also correlated with purity as such a high percentage of it
is used to create with, if not pure silver itself, with no alloys whatsoever. I cover
how it took a female designer in the 1970s to elevate silver from practice metal for
goldsmiths to an elevated material in the Elsa Peretti episode. Lastly, we see silver
showing a second place finish in sports and games. Why? Perhaps we have the ancient poet
Ovid to blame or thank. His passage in his magnum opus, Metamorphoses. He writes how this
element was superior to the needed alloy for war and protection. And he wrote, quote, that
silver was better than bronze, but bested by none other than gold. And now platinum and
the platinum family of metals, the most complex and at one time controversial as far as international
economy. Platinum is named for the Spanish diminutive of plata. So it translates to little
silver. Its raw color is silverish white, almost a chrome look. And it is scarce in comparison
to golden silver. So the yield is lower. It resists corrosion even at very high temperatures
and occurs uncombined with other metals as native platinum. It was first used by pre-Columbian
natives in South America for artifacts. And while European writings referenced it in the
16th century, it wouldn't be until 1748 that scientists would begin investigating platinum.
So it doesn't have the history, or at least not the evidence of prehistoric use in documentation.
Humanity had to get to a level of evolution to discover it past gold or silver. Was platinum
found in the gold used at Egyptian burials? Yes, because smelting out platinum from gold
wasn't invented yet. So objects being made could not be pure platinum. Characteristically,
it is twice as heavy as gold and more moldable than it is well. Would you believe it is so
rare on earth that it exists in higher abundances on the moon and in meteorites that have struck
our planet? That rare. The reason for such a long time to discover it is that its behavior
is so mysterious. In 1557, a humanist author wrote, No fire nor any Spanish artifact has
yet been able to liquefy. So it's a higher melting point and your acids aren't going
to work on it, fellas. So in the 18th century, explorers are sending nuggets back to Europe
and they're misidentifying it. Is it like things we know? Mercury? Is it a metallic salt?
We had one guy calling it white gold, but it doesn't match any of the properties, characteristics,
or behaviors. It gets a little better later in the century because somebody's thinking
it's useless because it's so hard it must be closer to iron, which is brittle to work
with. But wait, it's also so close to the molding and hammering of gold. So what gives?
Platinum hasn't been extracted from its family elements, so nobody knows how platinum alone
behaves. I tell my clients it's like when Justin Timberlake left the boy band NSYNC.
Not a unit anymore, but a soloist. And you won't totally know what's possible until
you've got some sort of baseline. So nobody can figure out if it's a single metal yet
and everyone's discoveries are inconsistent. Finally, and I mean finally, King Charles III
of Spain gifts a library and a laboratory to a French chemist and almost a year later
he succeeds in producing 50 pounds with his process and Spain gets a whole new business
and enters its platinum age. Let's briefly cover the other family members that some of
you may have heard about. Ruthenium. That strengthens platinum for die struck jewelry,
where it is machine pressed versus hand forming and fabrication. But it's used more in electronics.
As is iridium. Some jewelry is stamped irid-plat. Palladium got to be a solo material in jewelry
before 2000. But while lighter and whiter and harder than platinum, it's not as widely
known and is unfamiliar. Being more used in World War II as a strategic metal, meaning
in defense. Rhodium you may be familiar with. From plating white gold to give it a super
white and highly reflective finish. And lastly, Osmium. That's not used in jewelry, but it
is to make ultra hard pen tips and highly durable components. And hey, it gets poisonous
when you heat it up. The metaphysics of platinum strength made it popular in Victorian bridal
jewelry since it doesn't show damage or wear and tear like gold and silver. Remember, it
is rarer than gold. Metaphysically it is called the solid wisdom metal and worn for enlightenment
and clear hindsight or foresight. The first British crown for the Queen Mother in 1937
has a platinum foundation. And you can hear more about the English crown in the Cartier
episode. As for other industries, well buckle up. I'm sure you're not surprised with computers,
cars, electronics or medicine. But did you know it is currently used in chemotherapy
treatment and that author Ernest Hemingway is said to have had a platinum metal knee replacement?
Because at the time that metal had proven to be hyper allergenic both on the body and
in the body. Culturally it is used for recognizing exclusive levels. With certain credit cards,
platinum is above the gold card. In record music sales it shows higher heights than gold
certified number of units moved. And as platinum was coming into popularity at a time when
movie stars were not just bleaching their hair a few shades lighter to gold but went
twice as long the time of processing to achieve platinum blonde. Finally, the controversy
of platinum was international sanctions during apartheid which is institutionalized racial
separation. South Africa's policy was condemned in 1962 at the United Nations and platinum
was part of that boycott. While it did impact the lowest social levels immediately, the
long game did cut their net capital in half. Nelson Mandela gets liberated and interviewed
by 1993 for Time Magazine. He was asked if the de-investment globally brought an end
to apartheid despite other countries debating its potential correlation. He replied, Oh,
there is no doubt.
Thank you for listening and learning with me. I would love you to share this project
with people finding rare beauty in today's world and throughout our times. Until the
next episode, keep your own stories sparkling.