Palladium: For Fun and Profit

Palladium is a bright, silvery white metal in the platinum group of metals. Like platinum, palladium is considered a noble or precious metal. Palladium was used by pre-Columbian Native American people in Ecuador to make jewelry, and was finally isolated by William Hyde Wollaston in 1803. Wollaston named the metal after the newly discovered asteroid Pallas. Often used for industrial and medical purposes, palladium, which is much lighter and less dense than platinum, is gaining more and more acceptance for use as jewelry. Palladium has only been widely used as jewelry in the modern world since just before World War II, when it replaced platinum to make white gold. At the time, platinum was needed for the coming war effort.

As Jewelry

Palladium is excellent for jewelry because it doesn't tarnish and withstands corrosion. When it's annealed, or heated in a furnace, it's soft and able to be shaped. When it's cold it's quite hard and strong. Because it's so much lighter than platinum, palladium can accommodate larger gemstones without adding too much extra weight and this is ideal for earrings.

Unlike silver and gold, palladium can remain 95% pure when it's used for jewelry. This is known as 950 palladium.

A problem with making palladium jewelry in the past was that the metal had difficulty being cast or soldered. Jewelers complained that pure palladium was too soft and dull. It also didn't respond well to burring or being engraved. Even 95% palladium was hard to cast when it was alloyed with 5% ruthenium. The oxygen and hydrogen the metal ate up during the casting process caused holes and cavities in it. Now, jewelers have created new palladium alloys -- whose formula they keep secret -- and better ways of casting. Palladium is often cast using techniques used to cast platinum.

Like platinum, palladium is easy to care for. It just needs to be cleaned in warm soapy water and scrubbed with a soft bristled brush, then patted dry with a jeweler's cloth. Like all jewelry, it should be placed in a soft pouch or a fabric lined compartment in a jewelry box so that it doesn't scratch or get tangled up with other pieces of jewelry.

As an Investment

Palladium bullion has two ISO currency codes, XPD and 964. The only other metals to have currency codes are gold, silver and platinum. Palladium can be bought in the form of bullion coins, commemorative coins, or bars and wafers. Palladium coins that can be bought by the small investor are the Canadian Maple Leaf, Chinese Panda and Russian Ballerina. Palladium bars come in one gram, one ounce and 10 ounce sizes. As of this writing, palladium sold for $792.00 an ounce, while platinum sold for $1772.00 an ounce. So palladium has a bit of catching up to do with its brother platinum when it comes to investment! Palladium investments can also be nonphysical, in the form of stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, palladium is still widely sought for its use in catalytic converters, medical instruments, and dentistry. Scientists are also looking into its use in fuel cells.