Glossary
Jewellery, like any subject, has its own terminology. This section contains a glossary of terms you may come across when researching platinum jewellery. Simply click on a letter to start your search.
Palladium:
Part of the platinum group of metals, palladium has a silvery white colour but is less rare and therefore less treasured than platinum.
Pavé:
From the French, literally meaning “paved,” occurs when gemstones are set very close together to resemble a paved cobblestone road.
Pavé set:
A time-consuming style of setting produced by drilling tapered holes in a metal base to seat the gemstones, then securing them with tiny beads formed from the surrounding metal. In current usage it has often come to mean any type of bead setting.
Platinumsmith:
A metalworker who works in platinum when it is hot and malleable.
Precious metal:
This metal group is generally defined as referring to platinum, gold, and silver, which are valued for their rarity, colour, and malleability.