Gold, Platinum, Palladium, Silver & Other Jewelry Metals

Book excerpt: A full-colour guide for lay people and professionals about gold, platinum, palladium, silver, copper, bronze, brass, iron, titanium, niobium, aluminium, stainless steel, Damascus steel, tungsten carbide and cobalt chrome. This book explains how to test, buy, sell, and care for jewellery with precious and alternative metals. High-quality colour photographs show how these metals are creatively used in jewellery. Besides providing an historical perspective and interesting facts about the metals, this book discusses jewellery manufacturing methods, plating and responsible mining & business practices. You will learn: How to read the stamps on jewellery mountings; How to identify jewellery metals; How to determine the gold content in jewellery; How and where to sell your unwanted jewellery; How to spot a fair consignment contract; How to select refiners and prepare shipments to them; How to prevent and remove silver tarnish; How to clean metal jewellery.