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Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal with a bright yellow color and luster that is considered attractive, which is maintained without tarnishing in air or water. Chemically, gold is atransition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, solid under standard conditions. The metal therefore occurs often in free elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, usually withtellurium.
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal with a bright yellow color and luster that is considered attractive, which is maintained without tarnishing in air or water. Chemically, gold is atransition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, solid under standard conditions. The metal therefore occurs often in free elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, usually withtellurium.
Gold resists attacks by individual
acids, but it can be dissolved by the aqua regia (nitro-hydrochloric acid), so named
because it dissolves gold. Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which have been
used in mining. It dissolves in mercury,
formingamalgam alloys;
is insoluble in nitric acid,
which dissolves silver and base metals,
a property that has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items,
giving rise to the term acid test.
This metal has been a valuable and
highly sought-after precious
metal for coinage, jewelry, and
other arts since long before the beginning of recorded
history. Gold
standards have
sometimes been monetary
policies, but were widely supplanted by fiat currency starting in the 1930s. The last gold
certificate and gold coin currencies were issued in the U.S. in
1932. In Europe, most countries left the gold standard with the start of World War I in 1914 and, with huge war debts, did
not return to gold as a medium of exchange. Continue reading…
Gold Bullion
Gold Coins
Silver is a chemical
element with the chemical
symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal,
it possesses the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal. The metal occurs
naturally in its pure, free form (native silver), as an alloy with gold and other metals and in minerals such
as argentite and chlorargyrite.
Most silver is produced as a by product of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.
Silver has long been
valued as a precious
metal, used in currency coins, to make ornaments, jewelry, high-value
tableware and utensils (hence the term silverware) and as an investment in the
forms of coins and bullion. Silver metal is
used industrially in electrical contacts and conductors, in mirrors and in catalysis of chemical reactions. Its compounds
are used in photographic
film and dilute silver
nitrate solutions and
other silver compounds are used as disinfectants and microbiocides (oligodynamic effect). While many medical antimicrobial uses of silver have been supplanted by antibiotics,
further research into clinical potential continues.
SILVER BULLION
SILVER COINS
Platinum Bullion/Coins
SILVER COINS
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78.
Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina, which is literally
translated into "little silver". It
is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal.
Platinum has six naturally occurring isotopes.
It is one of the rarest
elements in the Earth's crust and
has an average abundance of approximately 5 μg/kg. It is the least reactive metal. It occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some nativedeposits,
mostly in South Africa, which accounts for 80% of the
world production.
As a member of the platinum group of elements, as well as of the group 10 of
theperiodic
table of elements, platinum is generally non-reactive. It exhibits a
remarkable resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures, and as such is
considered a noble metal. As a result, platinum is often
found chemically uncombined as native platinum. Because it occurs naturally in
the alluvial
sands of various
rivers, it was first used by pre-Columbian South American natives to produce
artifacts. It was referenced in European writings as early as 16th century, but
it was not until Antonio de Ulloa published a report on a new metal of Colombian origin in 1748 that it became
investigated by scientists. More...
Platinum Bullion/Coins
Palladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic numberof 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white
metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde
Wollaston.
He named it after the asteroid
Pallas,
which was itself named after the epithetof the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her
when she slew Pallas. Palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of
elements referred to as the platinum group metals (PGMs). These
have similar chemical properties, but palladium has the lowest melting point
and is the least dense of them. More...
Palladium Coins
