The pre-Columbian Native Americans of Ecuador and Colombia were the first people to make use of indigenous platinum. The dating of this metallurgy is difficult but it probably goes back to the early centuries BC and continues at least until 800 AD. The native people made use of sintering in the production of their platinum and gold alloys, some of which are plated with platinum over gold by the process of diffusion bonding of small platinum grains to the gold surface. This pre-Hispanic platinum metallurgy has no parallel in the Old World, where platinum remained unknown and unused in any quantity until the scientists of the 17th and 18th centuries began to investigate its properties. The Spanish platinum industry and the attempts of French and Spanish scientists to make use of the metal are briefly discussed.