Colombia, 1820

"Because of the chaos that occurred during the bloody war against Spain, there is an almost complete absence of published fiscal records for the decade 1810–20. Anibal Galindo, a prominent economic commentator of the nineteenth Century, expressed this situation very clearly :"The period from 1810 to 1821, when when the Republic of Colombia was founded, has no fiscal history."

Bolivar to Santander, July 1820:
"De platina y dinero, raya al que venga, y pedir más. No voy a Ocaña por este armisticio."
 
From a summary report dated December 1820, the Colombian government began gathering platina in the Summer of 1820.  The local ore price should have begun rising at that time, although the low official price still favored (British) export.

Cochrane (1825) reported platina delivered at the Mint received promissory paper (and some miners suffered outright confiscation) in exchange, poor bargain for Colombian producers, so 4/5th of the yield went to British traders and Jamaica.

Citation: Colombia: being a geographical, statistical [&c.] account of that country ; Alexander Walker

Revision to the 1826 Edition: known properties for platina

Citation: Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne ; Alexander von Humboldt

The Colombian Peso was underweight 1819-21:

 

Russia, 1820

Cochrane describes the area where platina was discovered. For the Russian Crown, the English (and sub-altern Germans) were directing the Ural mines, staffed by poorly-paid serfs who - it is clearly insinuated - stole from their master. Specimen Gold & minerals were notably collected, off-market.

Economic circumstances were perfect for the establishment of a contraband trade in platina, at the time of the major field discovery. 
 
Citation: Narrative of a pedestrian journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary... ; John Dundas Cochrane (1825) pp. 72-






Russian food commodity prices at Odessa, 1818-1826


Although perishable commodities sold in bulk entailed additional fees, foreign trade certainly entailed many costs associated with credit, insurance, shipping and handling.

 

1819/20 Exchange Rate

 

Germany, 1820: Mechaniker Apel of Göttingen (Brunswick)

Göttingen (now Lower Saxony) was in the Kingdom of Hanover, whose Prince Elector was then George IV (UK.)  Hanover weights and currency vary slightly from Prussian and Convention-standards.

October, 1820: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Göttingen Retail) = Thlr 6.385
.... Frankfort a.M :~Rthlr C.M. 7.09 , Fl. 17.03 ; ℳ C. 24.20, London: £ 1.064 ; Paris: Fr. 26.18

c.1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (UK: pre-import; English mfg)  = £ 1.0 (Thlr 6.32)

1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Paris: refined) = Fr 18.29 (USD$ 3.42)  
 

"English" Platinum appears cheap in Apel's advertisement.  It's doubtful a merchant in Göttingen could procure English Platinum with such economy.  In Late 1820, Wollaston noted Cary's purchase of French Platinum @ Fr 18.10 ; he himself concluded his own Platinum refining enterprise that year for want of cheap platina.   

Where the January 1820 rate was Rthlr 6.32 per £ 1. or Fr 3.76 per Rthlr. 1.0,  

In a South German university town, it seems most likely Apel offered French Platinum wire &sheet with a ~45% mark-up over the French source, not factoring any discount. 
 
"...thick wire & sheet of the best {imported} English Platinum, sold by the Loth: 3 Thlr."

Citation: Allgemeiner anzeiger und nationalzeitung der Deutschen(1820) p.2992



Where the Hannover Kölnische Mark (16 Loth) = 233.826 g. or 7.5177 Ozt, 1 Hannover Loth = 14.614 g.  or ~0.47 Ozt. ; 1 English Troy Ounce ~ 2.1283 Hannover Loth. 


Heavier than the Convention Thaler (rated 1.1111 more valuable), the Hanover Gold Thaler was ~Fr. 4.10 (c.1820)

The Hanover Silver Thaler (Fine Ag: ~26.069 g., 0.838 Ozt) was rated 3.79x more valuable than the Hambourg Mark-Current ; likewise ℳ 1. ~Fr. 1.532.

In Brunswick money (1820) 1 Kilogram Pt cost 3.44 Kg (110.6 Ozt) Fine Ag or 0.243 Kg. (7.802 Ozt) Fine Au, a PM ratio of 1: 4.121: 14.174

The commercial Loth weighed 15.3 Grams; the Cologne Marc Loth weighed 14.6 Grams. 
In Hamburg Marks-Banco at the Apothecary Loth rate (1820) 1 Kilogram of Platinum cost ~ℳ 418.78

Frankfurt: Johann Valentin Albert

 



Notices
Platinum vessels 
In the ""Allgemeinen Handlungszeitung"" Issue 208 (or on the 22th of October) b. J. mentioned Platinum vessels as dishes, crucibles, spatula bucket as well as pliers and tweezers, wire the finest and thicker for pre-drilling the flash holes on hunting rifles sheet to show the pan-bore, Platina-plate to incandescent lamps are in addition to those to have new metals and metalloids in Johann Valentin Albert in Frankfurt a.M.
 

Also seems Apel to have been the first who established (probably on Haussmann's instigation, we have to be regarded as the father of mineralogists school in Göttingen) one of those times extremely diverse range of mineralogical Help sapparaten and utensils, and brought into the trade. In 1821 leads Apel blow-pipes, tongs and crucibles of platinum, reflection and Anlegegoniometer in various models and divisions, and also of English steel hammers, compasses, rich mineralogical cutlery, hydrometers, small hydrostatic carriage provisions to the specific weight.  Apel as estimated in these efforts was his, even far beyond the walls of Göttingen, teaches the fact that in 1825 the Mineralogical Society of Jena, whose president was none other than the great Goethe, appointed the "famous university mechanic and mineralogist Friedrich Mr. Apel" their esteemed foreign member).

Erroneously cited and repeated in German journals (1821 - 1822) reference to William Cary was dated information from 1819.   In fact Cary's address had changed by January, 1820.

The cited price in Thalers is simply forex, not accounting for the total cost of shipping nor insurance. 

The French price peaked in 1825; Platinum from Paris certainly rose higher elsewhere.  That Sterling & Thaler Platinum prices were nearly identical in 1819 suggests a French price quote from that year.

c.1819/20: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (semi-mfg, London)  ~ Thl 6.38 (USD$ 4.66)

Citation: Allgemeine deutsche Real-Enzyklopädie für die gebildeten Stände ... (1824) p.606

 

1820: Wollaston's Platina Price estimation

In 1806, Edward Troughton paid £ 0.75 per Ounce Troy for Dr. Wollaston's Platinum.
On 17 July 1820, Troughton paid £ 15.4375 for 21.25 Ozt of his Platinum.


July 1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (UK: trade) = £ 0.7265 (Fr 18.76) 
July 1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (UK: French Import) = £ 0.7832 (Fr 20.23)

1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Paris: semi-mfg) = £ 0.7125 (Fr 18.21)

1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (imported refined, whols.) = £ 0.8042 (Fr 20.55)

 

1821?: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (semi-mfg, wire, retail) = £ 0.88 (Fr 22.63)

"Once platinum was no longer available from Wollaston, it would have been necessary for Troughton to seek further supplies from abroad, perhaps from France. A note recorded by Wollaston in 1820 shows that Cary acquired some platinum ingots from the firm Cuoq, Couturier et Cie., in Paris; the price charged was equivalent to 16s. 1d. an ounce, of which 1s. 10d. covered freight charges (38).

Erich Bollman met Dr. Wollaston in August 1814 and informing him that supplies of crude
platinum could be obtained from the merchant firm Adams, Robertson 81 Co, of Kingston,
Jamaica. As Bollman believed, smuggled ore could not be bought at Cartagena for less than five Spanish dollars a libra (=pound avoirdupois) equivalent to 1s. 6d. a Troy Ounce when the avd. price at Philadelphia was six Federal Silver Dollars.

In Philadelphia in 1813, Bollman had fabricated a massive sulfuric acid refining still for John Harrison with ~32 kilograms of platina.  (It appears others soon followed.) Such amount of platina was of little or no consequence to the historical record, and the plenitude of platina in Philadelphia attracted Wollaston's interest. Why was bulk platina shipped and or stored to the USA, if there was no demand for the metal?  It would appear that the rare commodity was simply held by merchant banks in diversification, as an asset.

In 1820, Wollaston estimated John Johnson's (the importer's) profit for platina based on Bollman's assumed fixed price at Carthagena (actually, Jamaica.)

"N.B. Platina bought at 6 Dollars per lb. or 1/9 per ounce and sold at 2/10 gives 1/1 or 62 per cent for charges and profit."

Where "per lb." is the libra, almost identical to the English avoirdupois  = 14.792 Troy Ounces, or 7,100 grains troy, the variable is exchange for "6 Dollars" in Spanish Dollar coin (Piastre or 8 reals.)   The English Pound Avoirdupois (16 ounces) is 14.583 ozt; the Price of New Dollars varied according to Market. (1818: S$1. = £ 0.2750)

Not factoring forex hazards or expenses, Johnson's apparent profit (62% - 89%) should have been considerably lower.

1806 - 1818: 1 Troy Oz. platina (est. Jamaica import) = S$ 0.4056 (£ 0.1115)

1806 - 1818: 1 Troy Oz. platina (est. Jamaica import) = £ 0.0875 - 0.0883
1806 - 1818: 1 Troy Oz. platina (sale to Wollaston) = £ 0.1417 - 0.1455

In Cartagena, the English merchant was arbitrage-trading commodities, (semi-) manufactured English goods for ore and other raw materials of Terra Firma. He purchased and sold in libra, his US and UK imports sold in either Avoirdupois or Troy ounces.  

In trade, a Jamaican merchant's true Cost Basis was probably between  £ 0.0365 - £ 0.0664 per Troy Ounce.

Wollaston's misunderstood the merchant's true cost, but platina was sold avoirdupois in Jamaica, NYC and Philadelphia in this period.  Wollaston was exceedingly secretive but his venture with Tennant had not gone favorably.  His miscalculation and inability to acquire platina (at imagined 'fair rates') may have factored into his declining ore purchases.   This confusion and frustration constituted a very real business risk to him, no less than the deflationary Platinum rates of his Continental competition.  

1815-20: 1 Troy Ounce platina (imported) = £ 0.1120 per Troy Ounce

1806 - 1818: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Johnson) = £ 0.1455 
1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (scrap, Johnson) =  0.6441

4/12/1820: Unmet Bid, 203 Kgs @ £ 672, >254 Kgs @ £ 840, > 1,120 Kgs @ £ 1,680.
4/20?/1820: Unmet Bid, 248.83 Kgs @ £ 1,000.
  
“In reply to Dr Bollmann I engage to take 4 or 5 cwt or even twice that Quantity of crude Platina if the price does not exceed 30/- p lb avoird & to pay for it on delivery in London.”

“Henry having spoken to Hibbert & Co respecting crude Platina & asking Quantity I reply that I would gladly lay out £ 1,000 at a price not exceeding 2/6 p oz Troy”.


In March, Dr. Wollaston requested to purchase through Dr. Bollmann (as a third party?) between 5,800 - 7,300 ozt "or even twice that quantity" £ 600. - 750. His April 1820 advanced the unit price but capped the amount to 8,000 ozt.  Neither offer was successful, so below market price.


March, 1820: 1 Troy Oz. platinum (Wollaston's Bulk Bid) = £ 0.1029 (Fr 2.62)
April, 1820: 1 Troy Oz. platinum (Wollaston's Bulk Bid) = £ 0.1250 (Fr 3.18)

1819:

On the Spanish Pound, even as late as the 1870s:

Colombia, 1819/20: Platina Prices, Wrong & Right

1819: 1 Troy Ounce platina (raw ore, in Colombia) =  S$ 0.1352 (Rthlr 0.20)

1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (retail, in Wien) = Fl C.M. 3.02 = Rthlr Cour. 1.50


Dated merchant's letter of April 7, 1826 and where the Spanish Pound = 14.792 troy ounces:

  Citation: Columbus: Amerikansiche Miscelle; C.N. Roding (1827) p.18


The estimated Colombian forex for Reichsthaler, 1826:

1815-20: Morillo sold Spanish colonial platina to fund his campaigns, ~ 4,275 Troy Ounces of platina, or in 5.58 Years (765.5 Troy Ounce per year.)

The data below erroneously republishes old prices, perhaps from von Humboldt's work.  This higher price of platina was nearly two decades old!  The source price in Choco and Carthagena had dropped significantly by 1814/1819.

1817?: 1 Troy Ounce platina (raw ore, in Colombia) =  £ 0.11 (USD $0.50)

Citation:  Spanish America: or A descriptive, historical, and geographical account of ... By Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle 1818, p.274

Citation: Colombia: being a geographical, statistical, agricultural, commercial, and ... By Alexander Walker (1822) p.312

The Silver Peso was underweight, 1819-21:


1917: One hundred years later, basic foodstuffs were sold in the Colombian Platinum district at 10x the coastal price; cheap and low-quality imports were likely marked up accordingly.

Citation: The Jewelers' circular, Vol. 79, Issue 2 12/17/1919 p.85

France, 1840

In 1825, Platinum rose to ~Fr 64 in Paris, but as a traded imported commodity at the Price of Gold elsewhere. 

By 1840 the Price of Platinum had fallen 50-60%.

1840: 1 Troy Ounce Gold (Market) = Fr 106.93 (USD$ 20.62)
1840: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Mkt) ~ Fr 21. - 32. (USD$ 4.- 7.)
1840: 1 Troy Ounce Silver (Mkt) = Fr 6.91 (USD$ 1.34)

Citation: Encyclopédie du commerçant. Dictionnaire du commerce et des marchandises ; Guillaumin( 1840) p.165

Citation: Encyclopédie du commerçant. Dictionnaire du commerce et des marchandises ; Guillaumin( 1840) p.1764

c.1839: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Bulk ) = Fr 26.41 (USD$ 5.15)
c.1839: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Mfg, Bulk) = Fr 30.48 (USD$ 5.94)
  The price of many of their products is to 26-30 Fr (7-8 Thaler.) per Once (p.d.m.) of two Loths.

Citation: Allgemeines Organ für Handel und Gewerbe und damit verwandte ..., Vol. 6 (April 1840) p.165

From 1820 (?) - 1840, the Paris market price of Platinum notably rose +40%. It's unclear exactly when the refined semi-manufactured retail price was Fr 20.32.

c. 1820: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum in Paris (refined, mkt) = Fr 20. (USD$ 3.61)

1839: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Russian ingot) ~ Fr 15. - 16. (USD$ 3. - 3.20)
c.1840/1: 1 Troy Oz. platina ~ Fr 6. (USD$ 1.20)

c.1842: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Refined, Mkt) = Fr 20.32 (USD$ 3.92)

c.1840: Referring to Platinum coinage discussions of 1815, and noting the withdrawal of the Russian Platinum coinage (1840.) Another reference to Platinum valued at the Price of Gold (before 1800?), perhaps to telescope manufacture?

Citation: Notions elementaires des sciences naturelles et physiques, cours ..., Vol.3; Charles Morren (1843)


c.1843

Citation: Éléments de l'économie politique; Joseph Garnier (1846) p.140

c.1839/40: Referring to Russia's Platinum coinage in the present tense. The reference to periods of lower Platinum prices likely refers to 1830-1 and 1815-20 (although this young chemist would have known this only by hearsay.)

c.1820?: 1 Ozt Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Bulk) = Fr 20.31 (USD$ 3.67)
c.1840: 1 Ozt Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Bulk) = Fr 28.44 (USD$ 5.50)

Citation: Cours élémentaire de chimie générale, inorganique, théorique et ..., Vol. 2; Paulin Louyet (1842), p778

Circa 1843?: reprinting old data!

Citation: Les curieuses origines des inventions et découvertes ; Ernest Soulangel (1846) p.

Citation: Vollständiges Taschenbuch der Münz-, Maass- und Gewichts-Verhältnisse ... ; Christian Noback, et al (1850) p.907

The Specific Gravity of refined Platinum Sponge 20.33, unrefined
Platinum Sponge 21.53, rolled Platinum 22.06, melted Platinum 20.98

 








mmmmmm mmmm

UK, 1819: Dearth of Platina Ends Wollaston's Production

c.1814-1819: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Scrap, Ask)  = £ 0.25 (USD$ 1.23)

Citation: The life and remains of Edward Daniel Clarke: professor of mineralogy in the ...William Otter (1827) p.496

  
Platinum refining Cost, 1800-1819:

Citation: "William Wollaston, John Johnson and Colombian alluvial platina: A study in restricted industrial enterprise" Melvyn C. Usselman, Annals of Science, Vol. 37, Issue 3, 1980 pp 253-268

 "The processing began and continued over the years in 16 to 30 ounce batches, and Wollaston early calculated the average cost of processing as 2s. per ounce. This, coupled with the 3s. per ounce paid out for platinum, made Wollaston’s expenses 5s. per ounce."


Dr. Wollaston's last purchase of 600 ozt @ £ 87. from from John Hodgson of Bucklersbury in April 1819 was likely sent from Jamaica or South America in late 1818. 

1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Hodgson, whols.) = £ 0.1450 (Fr 3.473; S$ 0.622)
December, 1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Wire) = £ 0.875 () 

30 Imperial Gallons = ~136 liters.  Where the January 1818 forex was Fr 23.80, the Platinum still was sold at a rate of Fr. 17.5/once.  Where the March 1819 forex was Fr 25.1265, the Platinum still was sold at a rate of Fr. 18.85/once in Gold.

January, 1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Mfg: Still) = £ 0.75 (~Fr 18.)

Feb., 1819. I understand from Mr. {Charles} Tennant that {platinum} retorts have been made in Paris of about 30 gallon capacity and weighing about 900 ounces at 15 shillings per ounce.
 
Quoting 1805 prices 15 years later is peculiar, but retail Platinum had been high and Thomas Gill wrote (c. 1822) in anticipation of the end of the platina shortage (and presumed price decrease.) 




As Usselman (1978) notes (1), Wollaston could not longer procure platina economically by 1820. A Platinum refiner himself, he had no business importing semirefined ingot from the better organized & technologically proficient Cuoq & Cie., whose production of cheaper stills & alembics was probably decisive to his retirement.

 

Compared to Wollaston's domestic price, the merchant Wm. Cary began importing platinum from a better source and reliable supplier, one associated with the French Mint. The professionalization of industry was a matter fact at that point; from that moment on Platinum was no longer produced by artists or scientist-philosophers.

1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (imported refined, whols.) = £ 0.80 (USD$ 3.62)

1820/1: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (semi-mfg, wire, retail) = £ 0.88 (USD$ 4.22)

"Once platinum was no longer available from Wollaston, it would have been necessary for
Troughton to seek further supplies from abroad, perhaps from France. A note recorded by Wollaston in 1820 shows that Cary acquired some platinum ingots from the firm Cuoq, Couturier et Cie., in Paris; the price charged was equivalent to 16s. 1d. an ounce, of which 1s. 10d. covered freight charges (38).

"Platinum and Palladium in Astronomy and Navigation: THE PIONEER WORK OF EDWARD TROUGHTON AND WILLIAM HYDE WOLLASTON" By John A. Chaldecott in PLATINUM METALS REVIEW, Vol. 31, April 1987, No.2, p.46

Platinum Pioneer and Discoverer of Palladium & Rhodium, William Hyde Wollaston (1766 -1828)

(1) Platinum Metals Rev., 1978, 22, (3) p.102

In 1819, Platinum was still sold by Cary at the same rate as 1805. A contemporary German periodical referenced Cary as an economical vendor of Platinum wire at his old address. (There was a fire at 162 Strand on January 20, 1820; for a short time, Cary was located at 277 , Strand.) Platinum wire was presumably more expensive in Germany, or the "news" (price) was already several years too late.

"Platin Saiten sind aber jetzt noch zu haben bey Mr. Cary, Nr. 162 Strand, die Unze zu 17 Lst. 6. d. oder ungefähr 6 Thlr." (Platinum Strings can now be purchased from Mr. Cary, No. 162 Strand, for 17s. 6 d. or about 6 Thaler per ounce.)

Citation: Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Vol. 23 (1821) p.847



Cary's address had moved by 1820:


c.1820-1824:
However outdated, German sources continued referencing this "6 Rthlr. rate" for some time.

31 July 1819
10 Guineas should have 1,187 Grains Fine Gold: at 1,120 Grains, the deficit was £ 0.5651.

72.575 Grams of Fine Gold + 367.021 Grams Palladium = 439.60 Auro-Palladium (.165 Au/ .835 Pd), but Wollaston charged £ 37. for 318.03 Grams so:

1819: 1 Troy Oz. Auro-Palladium (.165 Au/.835 'Pd') = £ 3.6186 (S$ 15.45) 
1819: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (Wollaston's 'Pd') = £ 3.4551 (S$ 14.76) 
1819: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (.999 Pd) = £ 3.8691 (S$ 16.52) 

c.1819: Chlorplatinates were used in the treatment of syphilis. The preparation was 1 Ounce platina, 1 Fluid Ounce Nitric Acid, 3 Fluid Ounces Muriatic Acid, x5 
 
Nitro-Muriate of Platinum = Hydrochlorate of platinum = Platinum Chloride ? (PtCl₄)

Assuming the Pt 58% and the Chlorine 42% in 60-80 Grains of Salt, but the platina only 70% pure, the 

c. 1819: 1 Fluid Oz. Platinum Chloride in Solution (PtCl₄, Ret.) = £0.10
c. 1814-1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum Chloride Salt (PtCl₄, Ret.) = £0.60 - 0.80
c. 1814-1819: 1 Troy Oz. Pt (In Preparation) = £ 1.48 - 1.97  

Citation: The American amateur photographer, Volume 5 (1893), p.55

 

France, 1819: Platinum Vase & Manufactured Price; Platina

A 6-piece "service de déjeuner" for not more than 1,000 écus (~ Fr. 6,000.) ~$1,110.83 with the following items of unknown weights (totaling ~ 66.5 Ozt, or ~2 Kgs) included:

1819: 1 Troy Ounce Platinumware (Mfg, Luxe, Retail) ~ Fr. 90.

Écuelle en platine et couvert = Platinum tureen, with cover
théière en platine = Platinum tea-pot
cafétière en platine = Platinum coffee-pot
sucrier en platine = Platinum sugar bowl
pot au lait en platine = Platinum milk creamer
couteau de dessert = Platinum dessert knife

31 August 1819:

Citation: Le Constitutionnel: journal du commerce, politique et littéraire (1/9/1819)





The government of Colombian attempted to re-monopolize platinum production in that country, creating supply problems in Europe and a resulting price hike in refined manufactures (c.1820) These factors likely forced Wollaston out of the business.   

This disruption & speculation ended the discovery period where celebrated artists & philosophers worked Platinum in an age of discovery.  Successive eras would pursue more commercial applications for the PGM.

There was no mention of the recent Platinum discovery in Russian Urals.


c.1818: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Paris, mfg.) = Fr 18.29  (USD$ 3.32)

1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, Paris) = Fr 5.08 - 6.10  (USD$ 0.93 - 1.11)

1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, London) = £ 0.19 - 0.21  (USD$ 0.84 - 0.95)

1819:  1 Troy Oz. Gold (Paris: mkt) = Fr. 106.8218 
1819:  1 Troy Oz. Silver (Paris: mkt) = Fr. 6.7821

1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, London & Paris equiv.) = Fl 1.85  (USD$ 0.884)
1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, Wien) = Fl 2.04  (USD$ 0.98)

Note the Wien Price (Russian Source?)  Demand for platina & Platinum spread across Europe, at the relatively low price 1812-1818. 


Citation: Darstellung des Fabriks- und Gewerbswesens im österreichischen Kaiserstaate ...; Stephan von Keess (1824) p. 539

 
c.1823: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (refined) = Fr 24.38  (USD$ 4.71)

It appears the REFINING COST fell -50%, and/or the ore price had suddenly collapsed after 1811/2.  The Paris Platinum Market Price fell through 1816, disrupting the commodity chain and confusing global consumers & importers for several years.  Prices began to rise in 1818/9.


Dubious (historical) Paris Price, suspect typographical error:  
1819??: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (mfg.)  = Fr 73.96 (USD$ 15.46)

October, 1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Semi-Mfg) = Fr 18.54 (USD$ 3.42)

Citation: Morgenblatt für gebildete leser, Vol. 13 (27/10/1819) p.1027

c.1819:

An 1819 Cuocq Platinum still weighing 20 Kgs. (643 Ozt) contained 200 litres, 0.311 Ozt per litre or 3.215 litres per Ozt.

October, 1819: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Semi-Mfg) = Fr 18.54 (USD$ 3.42)
 



Summer 1819: T. Howse, senior, of Cirencester, heard from a chemical friend that some copper articles coated with platinum, in the proportion of fifteen to one, could be purchased for ~37 Shillings/(lb avd.) from M. Laboute, 4 Rue St. Eustache, Montmartre, Paris.

In the Second Decade of the 19th C., the Paris Platinum Price was fairly stable relative to a US Dollar-adjusted exchange. 


c.1819 : 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (in 1:15 mfg copper alloy, Paris) ~  £ 2.03

1813 - 20 : 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (mkt) = Fr. 15.24 - 18.54  (USD$ 2.69 - 3.42)

c.1819-1825 : Lightning Rod Tips, Fr 30.

Mr. Pixis, nephew and successor of the Instrument Maker Dumotiez in Paris, (Rue du Jardinet, No. 2) whose careful and cheap work may I recommend the Friends of Physical Science, has always in store in his warehouse: collecting tips for storm surge arresters, from varnished copper, platinum itself endings and screwed on a rod of iron, the top to the bottom of collecting rods is soldered. He sold francs Fr. 30 the piece; just as "corde de fer peinte a l'huile pour conducteur the paratonneres", the toise to Fr. 4 to 5. Gilb.

There is no mention of the major Russian find of 1817 in this detailed summary of platina & platinum production in France, circa 1819.  

Apparently, the 1817 discovery of platina in the Urals was not reported or in doubt as late as 1824. The Western market for platina was not yet effected by that future supply.  It is likely the Russian output had no impact on platina/platinum prices (wholesale or retail) until 1825.

F. Montrelay & Co. manufactured Platinum medico-scientific instruments (particularly surgical) 1819-39?