Did you Know?

Some Interesting Facts about Gold

A One ounce Kruger Rand Gold Coin can be drawn into a wire 80 kilometers long Gold will not oxidize, rust, tarnish, corrode, decay or deteriorate All the Gold in history could be placed in a cube measuring 20 meters King Croesus of Lydia created the first coins of pure Gold (540BC) One of the heaviest metals, Gold is 19.3 times heavier than water The term Bullion applies to either coins or bars Instruments in gold are often used by surgeons One of the most expensive and rarest items in the world is the 1933 Gold Eagle coin which sold at Sotheby’s auction house in New York in 2002 for a record sum of $7.59 million dollars

Platinum Facts

• Platinum is the rarest and heaviest of the precious metals. All of the Platinum ever mined would fit in the average size living room

• Annually, only about 133 tons of Platinum are mined, compared to about 1,782 tons of Gold

• In contrast with Gold and Silver, there are no large above-ground Platinum Bullion stockpiles to protect against significant supply disruptions

• Ten tons of ore and a five month process is needed to generate one ounce of Platinum Bullion

• More than 90% of all Platinum supplies come from South Africa and Russia. Virtually all of the platinum mined in South Africa is committed to industrial contracts

• When World War II began, the U.S. government declared Platinum a strategic metal and its use in non-military applications, including jewelry, was disallowed

• As with all precious metals (Gold, Silver, etc.), Platinum can be scratched. However, with Platinum, there is actually no material lost from the scratch as there is with Gold

Diamonds

Diamonds were first formed billions of years ago some 100 miles beneath the earth's surface through a process of tremendous pressure and temperatures of 2000 - 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. Volcanic activity brings diamond crystals much closer to the earth's surface

• They are some 3.4 billion years old

• To produce a single one-carat diamond, 250 tons of earth will be mined

• Gem-quality diamonds are made up from less than 20 percent of the diamonds mined worldwide

• The first written notation of precious diamonds dates back to around 500 B.C.

• Diamonds are found in a variety of colours. Blue and pink diamonds are among the rarest, and yellow and brown as among the most common

• The diamond is the hardest natural substance found on the earth

• In one-thousand polished diamonds, only one will weigh more than one carat

Want to read more about the History of our Brands Click HERE to read about Mont Blanc, TW Steel, Pandora, Franck Muller, Frederique Constant, Trollbeads, Rotary, Raymond Weil, Citizen, Michel Herbelin, Tag Heuer and more.