BRITAIN'S WAR BRIDES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 55, 20 May 1942, Page 5

BRITAIN'S WAR BRIDES

ARE SURRENDERING THEIR WEDDING RINGS OF PLATINUM Between six and ten wedding rings of platinum will supply the electrodes for the sparking plugs of one aero engine. Britain's Avar brides arc therefore leaving the altar with rings made of palladium, a metal named after the planet Pallas, from Pallas Athene the Greek goddess of knowledge whose image the ancients believed brought good fortune. British jewellers like the metal because it works quite as easily as platinum. Tn engagement rings it holds the stones securely and with its untarnishable brilliance brings out all their fire and colour. It is .indeed proving ideal for all kinds' of rings, and also as it is about 40 per cent lighter, than platinum, for cigarette and vanity cases, bracelets and other articles where lightness, ■strength and beauty are desired. Pure palladium, like pure platinum, is too soft for jewellery* work, so it is being toughened by the addition of small quantities of rhodium and ruthenium, two even more precious; metals; of the platinum group. In this state it is called; by the trade Kerba palladium which goes to Britain chiefly from Canada. Kerba palladium costs £7 10s an ounce, as against £!) an ounce, for jewellers' platinum, but, as it is so much lighter, it goes further. In value it is comparable with 18~carat gold, and. it is; much more desirable because even in the a Hoy I state it is precious metal throughout.