USA, 1886: Crude Ore Low?

1886: 1 Troy Oz. platina (NYC: US ore, 31%) = $ 2.
1886: 1 Ozt. platina (US Ore, 70%) = $ 4.50

1886: 1 Ozt. platina (US ore, intrinsic) = $ 6.43
1886: 1 Ozt. US Platinum (US Ore + labor) ~ $ 7.

 
1886: 1 Ozt. Iridosmine (US: ~35% Iridium, 28% Pt) = $ 3.33
1886: 1 Ozt. Ir (US Iridosmine ore, @.999) = $ 6.43
1886: 1 Ozt. Pt (US Iridosmine ore, @.999) = $ 3.33 

1886: 1 Ozt. Platinum (NY mkt: Semi-Mfg, Wire) = $ 7.75
1886: 1 Ozt. Iridium (NY mkt: refined) = $ 18.

Citation: Mineral resources of the United States, Vol. 4 , US Bureau of Mines, Geological Survey (1887)





1886: 1 Ozt. Iridium (NYC: Refined, Imported) = USD$ 18.

Citation: The Annual Statistician and Economist, Vol. 13, Part 1889 ; Louis Philippe McCarty p. 179






Nov. 23/4, 1886 Platinum Coin Sale (by the highly esteemed Swiss dealer & numismatist, Edouard Frossard of Irvington-on-Hudson.) By the contemporary misunderstanding in purity, a 3-,6- and 12-Rouble set would be 1120 grains of 'pure platina' or 2.33 Troy Ounces.  The following price is exactly double the intrinsic value of the coins.

1886: 1 Ozt. Platinum (numismatic) = USD$ 12.86

Citation: American journal of numismatics, Vols. 19-21, American Numismatic Society, (1887) p.71


1882: 1 Ozt. imported Russian Platinum (semi-refined ingot) : USD$ 6.
1884: 1 Ozt. "Platinum" (whols/import mkt: all types) = USD$ 8. - 12.
1884: 1 Ozt. Platinum (refined, mfg, whols./import) = USD$ 7.50 - 8.50


1885-6: 1 Ozt. platina (London, bulk) ~ USD$ 8.44 - 8.87
1886: 1 Ozt. Platinum (semi-mfg, import) ~ USD$ 7.75

1886: 1 Ozt. US platina (Oregon: 31% Pt): USD$ 2.
1886: 1 Ozt. US Pt (USA: intrinsic) ~ USD$ 6.45
1886: 1 Ozt. US Pt (Producer Cost) ~ USD$ 7.0
 

Assuming 131 Pouds (68,990 troy ounces) @ 1 mln Roubles (2:1; USD$ 500,000.) in 1884, then the estimated average Russian export ore price was ~$ 7.25 (according to Russian Government statistics.



In 1886, the market price for (refined) Platinum in London & Paris was half the price of Gold. It's impossible the New York price for imported European Platinum was lower than in Europe.

US industrial demand far outstripped supply: "$ 2 an ounce" was the lowest quality domestic ores. Since the USA was importing thousands of ounces, that nearly irrelevant nominal price for domestic ore was, like Thomas Edison spurious & false claims of 'plentiful Platinum,' published in a futile effort to restrain rising import prices.

Four years later, the imported platina price was 10x higher.



1886: apparent Canadian Low for platina recorded: Pt ore 76%



New York: Platinum Wire, 1883-1898

Citation: Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 146 Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.: 1898) p.210.


US Imports:
 

THE TARIFF STRIKES THE DENTAL PROFESSION. 
We suppose it is generally known that, even when platina was at its old price of $4.00 or $4.50 an ounce, the amount of this metal in a tooth constituted the greater part of its expense.  For the last few years the demand for platina has been so much greater than its supply, its price has gradually advanced till now it costs $7.50 to $8.00 an ounce. It has not been so easy to advance the price of teeth, so that the profit of their manufacture has gradually grown less, till some makers have been obliged to retire, and the others have been put to their wits to sustain themselves. But now comes a blow from the revenue officer that hurries all the manufacturers of the cheaper priced teeth and leaves even the makers of the higher-priced teeth with little profit.  Contrary to the ruling of our government since its foundation, ...




 1886: 1 Ozt. US Iridosmine (Oregon: Ore): USD$ 3.33