Colombia, 1858: Platina Export Price

1851: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Source: 80% ore, wholesale) = C$ 3.786
1851: 1 Troy Oz. platina (San Buenav.: ore, whols.) = C$ 3.99 - 4.05 (Fr 19.20) 
1851: 1 Troy Oz. Pt (Colombian, .999) = C$ 4.99 - 5.07

1858: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Paris: Colombian Spot) ~ Fr 21.77 (S$ 4.35)

1859: 1 Ozt. Platinum (UK Mkt: Scrap?) =                            £ 1.25 (USD$ 6.13)
1859: 1 Ozt. Platinum (UK Mkt: Producer?) =                       £ 1.50 (USD$ 7.35)

1859/60: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Intrinsic, Bulk) =                         £ 1.35 (USD$ 6.62)

April 1860: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Refined, Retail) =                    £ 1.60 (USD$ 7.11) 

1859: 1 Ozt. Platinum (wholesale) = £ 1.50 (USD$ 7.35)  
1859: 1 Ozt. Platinum (manufactured, whols. ) = $ 14.40

March, 1859:  1 Ozt. Gold (Cartagena: .9375 Ore, .999) = S$ 18.00 (Ag)
March, 1859:  1 Ozt. Gold (Export: 75-93% Ore, .999) = S$ 17.30 - 17.40 (Ag)
March, 1859:  1 Ozt. Platinum (Export: 84% Ore, .999) = S$ 4.89 - 5.15 (Ag)

March, 1859:  1 Troy Oz. platina (Cartagena: 84% ore) = £ 0.8653 (USD$ 4.24)
March, 1859:  1 Troy Oz. Pt (Colombian Spot, .999) = £ 1.03 (USD$ 5.)
1859: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Cartagena: ore) = C$ 5.19 (S$ 4.15 ; USD$ 3.99)

1859: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Choco ore, .9999) = C$ 6.18 (£ 1.03)

Where "the hard Dollar of 50d" was £ 0.2083, the Colombian currency was £ 0.1667.  

Where the Libra of two Marcas was 1.2328 Troy Pounds at C$ 76.80 (£ 12.80) Colombian Spot. 1 Kilogram ore = C$ 166.95 (£ 27.825; Fr. 709.) ; 1 Kg. Pt = C$ 198.75 (£ 33.13, Fr 844.) This price appears considerably higher than Paris Spot; presumably NOT bulk rate. 

Citation: Parliamentary papers, Vol. 65 ; Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons (1860) p.17


In Cartegena, the Choco Gold/Platinum Price Ratio was 1:3.90625.  (After converting to Silver Pesos, there was a 4% premium on US coin.) 

1859: 1 Troy Oz. Gold (Chocó ore: 0.9583) = C$ 21.09

1859: 1 Troy Oz. Gold (Chocó ore: 0.9999) = C$ 22.01
1859: 1 Troy Oz. Gold (Chocó ore: 0.9583) = S$ 16.87 (£ 3.5154)
1859: 1 Troy Oz. Gold (Chocó ore: 0.9999) = S$ 17.61 (£ 3.6683)

1859:  1 Troy Oz. Gold (Antioquia ore) = S$ 12.98 - 16.22 (USD$ 12.46 - 12.58)

c.1858: If Gold were correctly estimated at the local price of ~S$ 17.61 Toy Oz./Pure, the total amount of Gold brought to Quibdo annually would be ~353.25 Kgs. If Platinum was 10% of total yield (35.33 kgs, .9999 Pt), the estimated platina yield annually was ~ 42 kgs.



Carthagena described as ten-days' sail from NYC.

1854: Wall Street schemes for a canal route between the Atlantic &Pacific Oceans, utilizing the Rio Atrato, borrowed from von Humboldt's suggestion (c. 1809) to compete with the long-proosed, never-realized "Nicaragua Canal" (Vanderbilt's lucrative 1849 stagecoach concession supported this possiblity.)

1859/60: Nathaniel Michler's survey of the lower Rio Atrato (an investigation for a potential canal route) described "annuities" paid to Cartegena, likely tribute to a cartel of local merchant-capitalists.



This reference from Sr. Belisario Caicedo (to Édouard André) is undated.  Perhaps "in my youth" dates to c. 1858, for he was born in 1852.  

Choco was 30% slaves, but free blacks worked their own placer mines at their convenience as far back as the 1820s.  Slavery in Colombia was abolished in 1851. Given Blacks' use of native gold as currency for basic wants and necessities, low-quality goods furnished by white merchants, it's very likely that gold-dust traded at very poor prices, perhaps merely the equivalence of two days work? (See Blackness and Race Mixture: The Dynamics of Racial Identity in Colombia ; Peter Wade [19 ] p.104)  Unknowable as a recorded statistic, the average "spot-price" for native Gold or platina must have been ridiculously low, at the source. 

 

Where the USD$ and the specie Spanish Dollar were nearly at par and noting the Spanish pound:

1858: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, whols.) = 5.14 Pesos (currency)

1858: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, whols.) = 4.11 Piastres
1858: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, whols.) ~ USD$ 4.15 - 4.33
1858: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, whols.) = £0.83 - 0.87
1858: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, whols.) = Fr 19.50 - 20.45

The London Trade price was more than 4x higher than Colombian Spot, for drug commodities.

1859: 1 Lb. Colombian Balsam (Cartagena: Export, Bulk) = C$ 0.36 (£0.06) 
1861: 1 Lb. Colombian Balsam (London: Import, Trade) = C$ 1.50 (£0.25) 






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