| Comment Number: | 517683-00053 |
| Received: | 09/23/2005 02:16:59 PM |
| Organization: | Techform Advanced Casting Technology |
| Commenter: | Teresa Frye |
| State: | OR |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries |
| Docket ID: | To Be Added |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
TechForm is a small business in Oregon that provides platinum castings to a nationwide customer base in the jewelry industry. We are very concerned about the impact of low purity alloys (50-85% Pt) on the consumer as well as the jewelry manufacturers in this country. From a consumer standpoint, platinum is viewed as the ultimate in precious metals and the creation of a cheap platinum product line would simply not be understood by consumers. They would see the product as Platinum and would not understand that it was alloyed with base metals that sell for a few dollars per lb versus the rarity of platinum at $930.00 ozt. There is nothing pure, rare, and eternal about the additon of non-PGM's such as copper, nickel, cobalt, etc. In addition, from a manufacturing perspective, the use of base metals in these alloys will make it extremely difficult to create a high quality product. Casting with 90 to 95% pure platinum is a dream; it is clean, non-reactive, highly recyclable, and ultimately creates a very high quality product that supports the stellar reputation that platinum now has on a global basis. The addition of base metals would create heavy oxidation, a non-recylable metal supply that would need costly refining, and overall a lower quality piece of jewlery. All of this so-called repair work would go on behind the scenes and the consumer would be none the wiser until their jewelry piece failed to stand up to the test of time. In sum, if designers and manufacturers choose to work to a lower standard that includes the use of base metals in excess of 5%, I do not believe that they should be allowed to call this product Platinum in any form.