Colombia, 1825 -1850

http://books.google.com/books?id=j4EzAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA157&dq=arroba+colombia&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UCPXUZaFNvfH4AOLtoHgBw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=price%20&f=false



c.1822:
Reported in the early 1830s, Colombian Gold mines were "neglected in the more general search for platina" during the (early) 1820s.  Citing Cochrane (c.1824) elsewhere;

Citation: An Accompaniment to Mitchell's Map of the World, on Mercator's Projection...; Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1846) p.272
 

1825:
1825:  1 kg. US Flour @ =  S$ 0.72 -1.01/kg.



1825:  1 kg. (local) Beef @ Chocó (whols.)=  S$ 0.5435




Citation: An Encyclopaedia of Geography Vol 4, Hugh Murray (1834) p.1406
 

1837:  1 kg. (local) Beef @ Bogotá (whols.)=  S$ 0.08 - 0.09
1837:  1 kg. (local) Mutton @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.06
1837:  1 Fowl @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.01 - 0.15
1837:  1 Turkey @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.03 - 0.06
1837:  1 Liter Madeira @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 2.113
1837:  1 Liter brandy @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 1.8489
1837:  1 Liter English Porter @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.7042
1837:  1 kg. (local) Beef @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.1359
1837:  1 kg. (local) Mutton @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.1020
1837:  1 Dozen Eggs @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 0.1875
1837:  1 kg. Tea @ Bogotá (retail)=  S$ 6.5217
  
1837: 


Transport:






1837: 1 pair locally-made 'Wellington' boots = S$ 10.
1837: 1 pair locally-made poor-quality boots = S$ 2.







1822:  1 kg. Salt @ Zipaquira= S$ 0.065



Puerto Nare?
1837:  1 Dozen Eggs @ Nare (retail)=  S$ 0.25




 





Export Values, 1837:





1845: 
Where Wheat @ 13.5% moisture = 60 lbs. avd. = 27.2155 kg = $S 3.375, 
1845: 1 kg 'best wheat' @ Bogota = S$ 0.1240 (£ 0.0248)
1845: 1 lb avd. 'best wheat' @ Bogota = S$ 0.0565  (£ 0.0113)




c.1847? 
c. 1847:  1 kg. Rice @ Chocó  ~S$ 0.3478


c. 1847:  1 kg. Potatoes @ Chocó  S$ 0.4348



 


c.1850: Colombian Balsams







Bogota  to New York/Philadelphia: ~3,000 miles by sea & land routes
(2,510 miles)

 

UK, 1840

1839: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (unrefined bulk ingot; Paris) ~ (USD$ 3. - 3.20)

1840: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Ret.) = £ 1.50 
1841: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Ret.) = £ 1.50 (USD$ 7.50)
1842: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Ret.) = £ 1.50 (USD$ 7.00)

At the end of Alfred Smee's Elements of electro-metallurgy (1840) 

Citation:  Palmer's New Catalogue, with 300 Engravings of Apparatus, illustrative of Chemistry, Pneumatics, Electricity, Optics, etc., with prices ; (1840) p. p. 20










c.1839/40: Platinized Silver


Citation: Elements of electro-metallurgy, Alfred Smee (1840) pp.

c.1840:  Silver was estimated at 1/5th the Price of Platinum






In Advertisements: Watkins and Hill's voltaic or galvanic instruments (1840) "ten pair" would be £ 8.40 (1 Element = £ 0.84), highest catalogue retail for the 0.5 x 4.0 Foil Element.
Smaller Element presumably 0.5 x 2.0 Foi.

SET OF TEN PAIRS OF GROVE'S FLAT PLATINUM AND ZINC P. cells in an ordinary sized Wollaston's porcelain trough, to liberate twenty- ...[six? cubic inches] of the mixed gases per minute, 8£ . 8s.

SET OF FIVE PAIR OF GROVE'S FLAT PLATINUM AND ZINC... liberate thirteen cubic inches of the mixed gases per minute, 4£ . 4s.

SINGLE PAIR OF GROVE'S FLAT PLATINUM AND ZINC PLATES...in Porcelain trough, 13s.

PAIR OF SQUARE PLATINUM DISCS OR PLATES, on Glass Column: decomposition of the alkalies by the influence of voltaic agency, 1£ . 10s. to 3£ . 3s.

In a comprehensive evaluation of various battery types, William Sturgeon grappled with the question of cost.  His 10-Cell Grove's Battery is estimated at £ 7. (1 Element = £ 0.70)

Citation: The annals of electricity magnetism and chemistry and guardian of ..., Vol. 5 (1840)





April 13, 1840: 'Quantity' Battery and 'Intensity' Battery

Quantity' Battery: 320 Sq. In. of Platinum Plate ; 640 Sq. In. surface area, so 1 Element was 8 Sq. In. ("about four square feet" is only 576 Sq. In. ; more accurate is "about four and a half square feet" = 648 Sq. In.) 

'Intensity' Battery: 600 Sq. In. of Platinum Plate ; 1200 Sq. In. surface area, so 1 Element was 12 Sq. In. 
 
The Annals of Electricity, Magnetism, and Chemistry; and Guardian ..., Vol. 4

 











April, 1840:

To calculate the amount of Platinum in a Watkin's Grove's Cell, compare the rate at which water is decomposed into Hydrogen and Oxygen.  The larger Battery demonstrated by Grove (with 40 Platinum-Zinc Cells in 5 Plates total: 48 square inches Platinum in total, 24 inches of double sided-sided Platinum: 4.8 sq. in. of Platinum Sheet per Plate) produced 110 cubic inches of gases per minute, or 2.75 cu. in. gases per Cell.

For Watkin's & Hill's smaller battery of just 5 Grove Platinum-Zinc Cells advertising 13 cubic inches of gases per minute, each Cell produced 2.60 cu. in. gases per Cell, so each Watkin's & Hill's Cell would have ~4.54 sq. in. of Platinum Sheet per Plate.

Watkin's &Hill's Cell for this battery (with ~4.54 sq. in. of Platinum Sheet) cost £ 0.84; the cheaper "Single Pair" £ 0.65 was certainly smaller w/ less Platinum.
Palmer's Catalogue of 1841 offered the 'larger cell'  Grove Platinum-Zinc 6-Cell Battery at £ 0.4167 ; the 'smaller cell' was just £ 0.2917 per Cell.

The cost of batteries (and probably Platinum) was falling dramatically.

Citation: The Metropolitan Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 58


Smee notes that in 1840 the assayer's charge for pure refining Silver was  £ 0.05 over the Market-Price, an 18.4% increase for the Producer's Price. 

Commercial Silver Nitrate (unknown purity) was ~30.6% over the Market-Price for Silver.

In period wholesale/retail catalogues selling 'pure Silver foil' for £ 0.425, platinised Silver foil sold for £ 0.475 or about 12% over the Market-Price for Fine Silver. 

 


Talbot's engine, with Grove's Battery: 4 Large Elements (198 Sq. In. Platinum Plate) where
1 Element had 49.5 Sq. In. Platinum Plate (99 Sq. In. surface)
 



April 1840: Where 3 Sovereigns = 0.77 Ozt; 23.964 g., presumed 9-carat

1839/40: 1 Ozt. Gold (Mint) = £ 4.241
1839/40: 1 Ozt. Gold 9-Carat Chain = £ 5.14

1839/40: 1 Ozt. Gold (9-Carat Chain, @.999) = £  13.70 
1839/40: 1 Ozt. Gold .999 (9-Carat Chain, 2.67 Ozt) = £  11.95 

Spain, 1840

At a coinage rate equivalent to ~Fr 32. per English Troy Ounce, c.1840.

 

USA, 1840: Chamerlain's Catalogue ; Iridium

c.1840: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Imported? Market) = $ 6.80
c. 1840-5: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Ingot) = USD$ 7.50 - 8.33

In Boston , N.B. Chamberlain was likely selling English Platinum. (Platinum foreceps sold for the same price there in 1858.) Where Clarke's Platinum Forceps UK cost (1842) is known (equivalent of $1.83) and presuming the ratio of Retail Manufactured to Semi-Manufactured (UK Semi-Mfg Retail Platinum@$ 7.32) nearly identical:  


1840: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Ret.) = £ 1.50
1840: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Boston: Semi-Mfg) = $ 8.00?

Platinum Sponges and Coils for $ 0.25, Platina Forceps for $ 2. - 3. (212 - 258% more than UK Catalogue)

Citation: An introduction to natural philosophy: designed as a text book, for the use &c.; Denison Olmsted (1840)

 






 
Labor for Platinum Plate: $5.

Citation: Williams's New York Annual Register (1840)



c. 1840/1: Dr. J.G. Ambler began to practice dentistry in New York 1842; his preceptor was his uncle.  If true, New York dentists manufactured their own Platinum (from Russian ore?) for dental plate. 


 
Reference





 

c.1840?: Colombian Gold Ore was ~2.06% Pt


 

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