Mounting diamonds
Silver, being whiter than platinum or palladium, is quite suitable for color as a metal in mounting diamonds, but it is seldom used now on account of its ready oxidation. Despite its easy tarnish, it was used in much Victorian jewelry, such as spray brooches and pieces which contained a large number of small stones. A light yellow tint in a stone would be neutralised by platinum mounting, but lumpy stones look leaden and heavy in this metal. The high cost of platinum in recent years has led to the increased use of palladium in jewelry, and this lower priced metal gives excellent results.
Mounted stones lose much of their brightness and luster if grease or dirt is allowed to accumulate behind the settings. A stone must be surface clean to show its full brilliancy. There are various obvious methods of washing away dirt from behind a stone. The use of an old, soft toothbrush, soap (preferably vegetable soap), and warm water will not injure diamonds, but careful washing in dilute sulphuric acid will clean a stone of most of the attached foreign matter. Better still, it may be boiled in an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, dried, and then rinsed in pure commercial alcohol. Or it may be boiled either in a strong solution of potassium hydroxide or in a mixture of two-thirds sulphuric acid and one-third nitric acid (aqua fortis). Washing in benzine or gasoline, followed by rinsing in alchol, is satisfactory, but dust and dirt are not entirely eliminated by merely dipping in alcohol.