The famous Breakers mansion in Rhode Island has been found to have walls coated in platinum.

For years experts had wondered why the eight silver leaf wall panels in the building had not tarnished, despite having been standing for over 100 years.

Now, museum officials and a Delaware laboratory have revealed the secret to the panels' success is that they are made of platinum, not silver as previously thought. This has resulted in the walls keeping their shine for over a century and demonstrates the unique properties of platinum.

Chief Breakers conservator Jeff Moore was amazed when the discovery was made, commenting: "Platinum never even occurred to us."

He added that the experts had expected to find the walls were in fact made of tin or aluminium, but the discovery that they were crafted from platinum demonstrates the opulence behind the splendid building's creation.

The Breakers was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for Cornelius Vanderbilt, the grandson of Commodore C Vanderbilt, and built in 1893.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd