All About Gemstones: Precious Metals

This portion of the site is dedicated to precious metals, or Noble metals such as gold, silver, platinum, rhodium and titanium. Noble metals can resist corrosion and/or oxidation, unlike lesser 'base metals,' and have a rarity that is commensurate with their value.

The earliest signs of man's use of metals occurred over 10,000 years ago, when humans first began using native copper, meteoric iron, silver and tin to create tools, weapons and jewelry ornamentation. Crude copper tools that date back to around 7,000 BC have been found on the Anatolia plateau of eastern Turkey, as evidence of our first attempts at metalworking. The first alloying of metals in the form of bronze was developed around 3,500 BC, ushering in the "Bronze Age."

This section of All About Gemstones also contains additional information on metal working, jewelry making, the hallmark system, and bench work techinques.

Materials Metals Noble Metals Bronze Electrum Gold Palladium Platinum Rhodium Rose Gold Silver Stainless Steel Titanium White Gold Glossary - Metallurgy Metals in Jewelry Gemtone Setting Types Gold Annealing & Cold Rolling Precious Metals Hallmarking System Vickers & Brinell Hardness Test Precious Metals Production Conflict Gold from Central Africa