Pre-Columbian South American Indians are known to have found ways to use platinum for decorative purposes.

The first known example of platinum goes back to prehistoric times in South America - where a small head statue is known to have been shaped out of the metal. Awareness in Europe dates back to 1557 to a French-Italian scientist Julius Scaliger who was in Central America when large deposits of the metal were discovered in South America by the Conquistadors. It's from this discovery that platinum got its name, from platina - the Spanish word for "little silver".

However, it was not until samples began arriving in Europe in the middle of the 18th Century, that processes to melt and refine platinum were applied. In 1801, English physician William Hyde Wollaston obtained the first pure sample and his methods still form the basis of the techniques which produce platinum today.

Wollaston's discovery was an immediate commercial success and he and his collaborators went on to isolate other platinum group metals (PGMs). In 1824, the Ural Mountains were found to harbour significant platinum deposits and by the end of the 19th Century, a new jewellery style had developed combining the "new" metal with diamonds from recently discovered mines in South Africa.

In 1924 South Africa became a rich source of platinum itself when German geologist Hans Merensky discovered there the largest deposits ever found.

The Second World War brought great restrictions on the use of platinum as it was needed in armaments and it wasn't until late in the 20th Century that its popularity as a choice for jewellery returned.