Jewellery

While industry and bullion coinage were major consumers of platinum in the 19th century, platinum jewellery remained rare until high-temperature jewellers' torches were developed later. Once this development was made, jewellery makers were quick to take advantage of platinum. Before the first decade of this century, the whiteness of diamonds had long been highlighted by setting them in silver. However, silver's relative softness meant that these settings had to be relatively heavy -- taking away some of the brilliance of the stone. Thus, as jewellers became more adept at using "the other white metal," platinum quickly took over the role of the diamond setting of choice.