When platinum jewelry prices were sky high some time ago, Palladium became a metal of choice as an alternative to the Platinum which was simply prohibitively expensive for many. With Palladium being an intrinsically white metal (unlike white gold, which is actually plated yellow gold..), like platinum and sharing the price point of gold, it was an easy choice.
However, now that platinum prices have come down from where they were several years ago and with certain porosity problems arising in the creation of a sometimes brittle palladium metal, the popularity of this precious metal has declined somewhat.
It will be interesting to see how Palladium does in the 2009-10 season.
