In 2007, gold’s value started to rise into what soon became record setting prices. The livelihood of the jewelry industry is closely tied to the precious metals market, and jewelers began to feel the pressure – the prohibitive cost of precious metals was having a negative impact on consumer demand. With these factors in mind, somebody created Platina 4.
Platina 4, or P4, is a unique precious metal alloy that incorporates gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. The blend gives consumers an inexpensive alternative to gold jewelry. It sounds impossible at first – a blend of all four precious metals that’s cheaper than gold alone? To make sense of it, you need to look at the makeup of Platina 4, which breaks down to:
Silver: 80.2%
Palladium: 6.2%
Gold: .27%
Platinum: .12%
The rest is a proprietary alloy that makes Platina 4 more resistant to corrosion and oxidation. All of the metals combined give Platina 4 several advantages over other types of jewelry. For example, Platina 4 looks identical to white gold, but doesn’t require rhodium plating. It’s also more scratch resistant than 14k gold and more tarnish resistant than sterling silver. And unlike pure platinum, Platina 4 can be easily polished and resized.
In general, Platina 4 costs about one-third of the price of 14k gold. But remember, even though it’s pitched as “gold-like,” Platina 4 does not qualify as a gold alloy because the amount of gold it contains is too low. Clearly, the alloy name should have more of a silver ring to it then platinum because of its high silver content. Still, it’s an interesting alloy that can be a great choice for either the budget-minded jewelry consumer, or one who wants precious metal jewelry that doesn’t require much maintenance.
