Colombia: 1825: Observations on Platina

1823 : 1 Troy Oz platina (ore @ Choco)  = S$ 0.2704
c.1825 : 1 Troy Oz platina (ore @ Choco)  = S$ 0.5408

Citation: The Present state of Colombia: containing an account of the principal events...;  Officer late in the Colombian service (1828) p.309


An enormous penalty for smuggling platina, noted by Dr. Wollaston in London in November 1824 explains the Paris Price Spike of 1824/5. 

As news of Boussingault's discovery of a platina reef(October/November 1825) and news of the massive Russian discovery and yield reached Europe by the Spring of 1826, the European platina price started falling dramatically.  



Citation: The metallic wealth of the United States: described and compared with that ...  Josiah Dwight Whitney p.156


c.1836: J.-B. Boussingault returned to Paris in 1832; he apparently corresponded with Pierre Théodore Virlet d'Aoust for this article on precious metals in the Americas. 

Circa 1826, Boussingault estimated the platina yield to be ~8-9 quintales (libra hundredweight; 367.9 - 413.91 kgs) or 11,830 - 13,310 English Troy Ounces.

Virlet estimated abit higher, 10 quintals or 460 kgs (14,790 Troy Ounces).
Citation: Dictinnaire Pittoresque D'histoire Naturelle: Des Phenomenes de la Nature (1837)




Of potentially greater consequence, the British Crown ordered the fiat debasement of the Spanish Dollar in the Spring, 1825.  If British merchants dumped Spanish Dollars in the region as a result, it follows that commodity prices would settle higher in Spanish Dollars, lower in Sterling.  However, it's not clear that commodity market prices would rise/fall 33% or even approximate the exchange official rate change, which was varying throughout the West Indies for London bills and currencies.

Citation: The shipmaster's assistant, and owner's manual: cont. general information;  David Steel, et al. (1826) p.303

(The Spanish Pound @14.792 English Troy Ounces, and the Peso/Piastre on par with the US Silver dollar.)

 
  
According Cochrane, visiting in 1823, about ten quintales of platina (14,790 English Troy Ounces, or 460 kgs) were extracted annually from Chocó.  Dr. Jose Manuel Restrepo reported (1826) : "the amount of platinum that is exported is small, which sound data indicates cannot exceed 1,500 libras ( = 22,188 Troy Ounces or 690.14 Kgs) per year.  Platinum is worth 16 to 20 pesos per libra."

September/October, 1825 : 1 Troy Oz platina (ore @ Choco)  = S$ 1.35

Citation: Estudio sobre las minas de oro y plata de Colombia; Vicente Restrepo (1888) p.76

Noticias sobre las minas de Colombia (MS. 1826) recorded a platina price level much higher, at 16-20 pesos per libra castellano.   The Senior Restrepo's price appears to be the record high Colombian source price for the first half of the 19th Century.  The approximate months for his platina Price-Range can be ascertained from von Humboldt's Paris price-record (1825-6.)  

By December 1825, news of the enormous yield from the 1824 Ural placers discovery probably tempered European prices somewhat: widely reported, St. Petersburg prices fell by one-third in the Winter of 1825/6.

Between 1818-1825, the price of wholesale platina in Colombia rose from S$0.14 >  S$ 1.35. The reported Jamaican merchants' buyers' appears to have been double the official State monopoly price ($0.41 - S$0.54) c. 1821.  The Colombian platina export ban was noted incorrectly noted in Wollaston's Notebooks as "November 1824" ; this may date the price-surge in London instead .  The London platina price probably rose dramatically in that month; Paris Platinum price rose by 30% in December, 1824.

In the USA, the Tariff of 1822 included a 15% tax on both imported Platina/Platinum. This was consistent throughout the period, until 1832: 

Citation: The present state of Colombia, by an officer late in the Colombian service p.309

c. Summer, 1826

Citation: The present state of Colombia, by an officer late in the Colombian service p.309

Poor information for most literate people traveling, even traders on land, is illustrated by this 1822 account which reveals the utter chaos and permutations that passed for "world news." Metropolitan European merchants were exclusively focused on commercial matters of specific interest to their own business, or 'back home'; news, as such, was circumscribed by narrow professional bias and rampant provincialism.

Furthermore, platina prices were insignificant to published commercial intelligencers: the relevant global market was exceedingly small for those traders & their clients ( a few dozen people, globally.)  This commodity was largely ignored, irrelevant, except to refiners and their small pool of consumers.

c.1826: some experiments w/ Platinum alloys

1824: Peso fuerte +10% ; Peso ~ £0.17 - £0.21

1824 : 1 Troy Oz. Silver (manufactured @ Philadelphia)  = USD$ 1.51 - 1.57