Palladium Leaf Weathervane Finish

Palladium is a soft lustrous silver-white metal that resembles platinum in look and composition. It is the least dense and has the lowest melting point of the platinum group metals. Discovered in 1803 by chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston who named it palladium after the asteroid Pallas. The word Pallas derives from the name Pallas-Athena, the Greek Goddess who appended Pallas to her own name in remorse, after slaying her childhood friend.

Palladium is comparatively much lighter than platinum. Similar to gold, palladium can be beaten into a thin leaf form as thin as 100 nm (1/250,000 of an inch). Because it is very resistant to corrosives in the air it can, and often is, substituted for silver or white gold in exterior gilding. Palladium leaf is more expensive than gold leaf and is typically used less often than gold leaf in weathervane making.

The consensus is that gold or palladium leaf have a track record of standing up to environmental conditions such as UV radiation, intense heat, wind, rain and snow over an extended period of time. There are copper weathervanes today that were made in the Victorian Age that still have traces of their original gold on them, even after over a century of exposure.

Even so, leafing durability is also contingent on location. Leafing applied to weathervanes located right on the coast will wear out more quickly than leafing on weathervanes located in less extreme environments. Depending on the installation site, gold and/or palladium leafing can typically last anywhere from 5 years (near the coast) to 60 or 70 years in protected environments.

The price for adding gold or palladium leaf to a weather vane depends on how much of the vane’s surface is to be gilded. If you are interested, we can provide you with a quote to leaf any or all of the weather vane you are considering.

Here is a side by side example of     palladium and gold leaf used on two of our Viking Ship Weathervanes.

Banner Weathervane – Military Click image to enlarge	Decorative Banner Weathervane #1 Click image to enlarge	Bishopsgate Weathervane Click image to enlarge	Elven Ship Weathervane Click image to enlarge
Hot Air Balloon Weathervane Triple Click image to enlarge	MG TD Weathervane 1953 Click image to enlarge	Water Skier Weathervane Click image to enlarge	Viking Ship Weathervane Click image to enlarge
Goddess Weathervane – Nike Click image to enlarge	Yellow Jacket Weathervane Click image to enlarge	Rooster Fish Weathervane Click image to enlarge	Banner Weathervane - Decorative #1 Click image to enlarge