Chromium often gets a bad name unfairly. Hexavalent chromium, often shortened to Cr(VI), is an especially serious industrial pollutant and carcinogenic. However, as often spoken about on TV and other mass media reporting, confusion often arises because it makes it seem like the element itself is at fault rather than pointing out that the culprit are derivative compounds and not the metal itself. While the focus is on the toxic effluents of poorly regulated factories there’s unfortunately little to no effort expended in pointing out that the average household already contains many pounds of this element from your dishwasher to your faucets, doorknobs, phone and virtually every other identifiably metallic thing you come across day to day; all of which we very much hope is harmless or we’re surely doomed as a steel-free world is unthinkable in a modern world.

Also totally harmless are these well-made little planchets of pure chromium metal. One of the very few instances of seeing products manufactured from the pure form of this element without the iron with which it is nearly always alloyed.