 Because the other platinum @-@ family members were not discovered yet ( platinum was the first in the list ) , Scheffer and Sickingen made the false assumption that due to its hardness — which is slightly more than for pure iron — platinum would be a relatively non @-@ pliable material , even brittle at times , when in fact its ductility and malleability are close to that of gold . Their assumptions could not be avoided because the platinum they experimented with was highly contaminated with minute amounts of platinum @-@ family elements such as osmium and iridium , amongst others , which <unk> the platinum alloy . Alloying this impure platinum residue called " <unk> " with gold was the only solution at the time to obtain a pliable compound , but nowadays , very pure platinum is available and extremely long wires can be drawn from pure platinum , very easily , due to its crystalline structure , which is similar to that of many soft metals . 
