ProGold Buys Your Precious Metals!

In addition to gold, we are interested in several other precious metals.  Those include platinum, palladium, and silver.

What are these other precious metals?

Platinum and palladium, like gold, is called a "precious" metal.  Precious, of course, means "valuable".  The reason these metals are valuable is because they don't "rust".  Rusting is actually the combination of oxygen from the air with iron (in steel) to form "iron oxide".  That's the rough red, powdery substance that forms on steel.  The proper term is "oxidation".

These precious metals do not combine with oxygen from the atmosphere to form an oxide layer, like rust.  These metals are very non-reactive with oxygen.  Therefore they tend to stay shiny forever.  Sure, they get dirty and need some polishing occasionally, but for the most part, these metals stay looking good.  In ancient times these metals became favored for ceremonial and decorative purposes because of their ability to continue to shine and never disappear into a red powder.  That's the meaning of historic the word precious.  In modern times, the same virtue of always looking good continues to make these metals very desirable, or precious, for jewelry.  These same properties make these metals very important in industrial applications as well.

Platinum and palladium are "white" metals, meaning that they have the typical silver-white-grey-black appearance of most metals. 

By the way, there are only two metals on the planet that are not in the silver-white-grey-black color spectrum.  The two metals are gold and copper.  Copper and its' alloys, i.e.: brass (copper-tin-zinc) and bronze (copper-lead) are referred to as the "red" metals.

Platinum and Palladium Jewelry

Platinum and palladium are also used heavily in fine jewelry.  "White gold" is not gold at all.  It is usually either platinum or palladium.  There is no actual gold that is white; gold is only yellow.  Sometimes "white gold" does actually contain some amount of gold; but that gold is mixed with another metal, a white metal, to give the overall appearance of white.  In fine jewelry, the platinum or palladium content of the metal can be virtually pure and that would be a very high value item.  At other times, for lower cost or costume jewelry, the whiteness of the metal can come from a lower value metal such as nickel.

Silver Jewelry

The last metal mentioned is silver.  Silver is in the white-silver-grey-black color spectrum.  Unlike platinum or palladium, silver is not a "precious" metal in the sense that silver does "rust".  Actually we use the word "tarnish" when we talk about silver and that tarnish, unlike rust, is not a combination of the metal and oxygen.  Tarnish is a combination of the silver metal and sulfur, which is another chemical found in our atmosphere.  Silver reacts with sulfur to form tarnish, which has a black color.  The tarnish, like rust, is pretty soft and can be easily removed with a mild abrasive polish.  But because silver tarnishes, it has less natural value than the precious metals.  Silver's popularity has to due with its' natural color: When polished it has a very attractive color to it.

Sell Your Precious Metal Jewelry Today!

If you have white colored jewelry that you suspect has value, please send it to us.  We use a specialized machine, similar to a doctor's x-ray machine, which directs an electron beam to the metal.  That electron beam scans and measures all of the metals contained in the jewelry and tells us the exact composition and amounts of all of the metals contained within.  With that information, we can provide you with the highest return value!