What is Palladium?

---

Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 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 epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas.

Palladium belongs to the Platinum group of precious metals, and is often mistaken as being Platinum, as to the naked eye they almost look identical. But Palladium is indeed a separate elemental metal.  Most of the currently known deposits of Palladium reside in Russia.

Traditionally Palladium's counterpart Platinum has been the more valuable Precious Metal, but as of 10/19/2017 when this blog is being authored, Palladium is more valuable. 

Because of Palladium's similarities to Platinum, and its traditionally lower price, Palladium has been utilized as an industrial catalyst and is also a common metal alloyed and used in jewelry manufacturing since 1939.  Palladium and Rhodium (used for white gold), has been a common and integral part of the fine jewelry industry and market.  This very well could be changing right before our eyes in regards to Palladium.  If Palladium continues to soar in price, a trend only recently being seen, this decades old practice may be looking for another viable option.

For a very long time, in many industrial applications, Palladium had been considered a more economical substitute for Platinum because of its greater abundance and lower market prices.  Although the actual amount of available Palladium in the earth is not known, Palladium for years and years has been a greater bargain when buying for industrial purposes, as for the longest time it sold for up to half the price as Platinum.

Some common Industrial uses of Palladium are as follows:

• Catalytic Converters
• Multi-layer ceramic capacitors
• Connector plating for numerous electronics

Currently, Palladium is being studied to find its potential for use in fuel cells and for hydrogen storage. It very likely will be the metal of the future.

Palladium also has numerous Medical Field Applications such as in Nuclear Medicine and Blood Glucose Testing.   Recently Medicinal Chemists at the University of Maryland have developed a Palladium catalyst that aids the chemical synthesis of colchicine, which has been in short supply of late in the US.

With the soaring prices of Palladium, those who had the foresight just a few years ago to purchase Palladium Bullion for investment reasons, could be cashing in right now for very nice profits.  Solid Palladium Jewelry does exist, but has not been a popular choice until recently.  Most of the large well-known Bullion Minters all produce Palladium Bullion. The U.S. Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, and Russia all mint official Coinage out of Palladium as well.

If Palladium continues this rise of value in the Precious Metals Market, expect it to become a more household name.  

At Texas Gold and Silver Buyers of San Antonio we are buying ALL Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium and paying TOP DOLLAR each and every day.   

We buy Jewelry, Coins, Bullion, Scrap Gold, Scrap Silver, Sterling Silver, and Dental Gold. 

Items We Buy