UK, 1812: Iridium & Osmium

1812: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Wire: Cary retail) = £ 0.8751
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Mfg: Cary retail) = £ 1.00

1812: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Wire: Accum retail) = £ 1.05
1812: 1 Troy Oz Platinum (Mfg: Accum retail) = £ 1.20

Although the spot-price platina in New Grenada was falling dramatically, the British retail price was stable.

Iridium ore was  still not well analyzed by 1826, but British samples from 1806 (of unknown provenance) date to the period of Accum's catalogue.  Iridium ore was 3x more expensive than platina. 

Refined and manufactured Platinum was 3x more expensive than platina at the intrinsic rate; labor & profit being a full 2/3rds the price.  

Citation:   Descriptive Catalogue of the Apparatus and Instruments. . . Manufactured and Sold by Accum and Garden (1812) p.53

Muriate:


Platinum forecepts were recommended as mineralogist tools at least as early as 1814.  
c.1812:






Assuming the same effort and margins only suggests the very lowest possible producer prices, where the far less rare and non-toxic Palladium was in fact retailing for ~ £ 24 ./oz.

1812: 1 Troy Oz. Iridosmine/Osmiridium (ore)  = £ 0.75 (USD$ 2.72)

1812: 1 Troy Oz. Iridium (intrinsic)  ~ £ 1.0 (USD$ 3.62)
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Osmium (intrinsic)  ~ £ 3.0 (USD$ 10.86)
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Iridium (refined)  ~ £ 3. (USD$ 10.86)
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Osmium (refined)  ~ £ 9. (USD$ 32.58) 

1812: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore)  = £ 0.25 (USD$ 0.91)

1812: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (intrinsic value, @ 75%)  ~ £ 0.33 (USD$ 1.21)
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (refined)  = £ 1. (USD$ )

1812: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (Trade, Accum) = £ 4.85 (USD$ )
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (Trade, .999) = £ 5.4281 (USD$ )  
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (Est. Retail, Accum) ~ £ 5.82 (USD$ )
1812: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (Est. Retail, Accum) ~ £ 6.5174 (USD$ ) 
 

The 1835 Davy Catalogue illustrates how much higher demand and/or costs were, in fact.  Iridosmine (ore) was twice as expensive as refined Platinum, and refined Iridium was 11.25x more expensive than the ore.  Iridium was 22.5x more expensive than Platinum; Osmium was 30x more expensive than Pt.

 

1835: 1 Troy Oz. Iridium (refined)  = £ 36. (USD$ 174.60)

1835: 1 Troy Oz. Osmium (refined)  = £ 48. (USD$ 232.80)

1835: 1 Troy Oz. Iridosmine (Native Iridium)  = £ 3.20 (USD$ 15.52)

1835: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (refined,retail)  = £ 1.60 (USD$ 7.76)

1835: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore)  = £ 0.90 (USD$ 4.37)


Citation:  The Annals of philosophy, Vol. 27 Ed. Thomas Thomson, Richard Phillips, Edward William Brayley (1826) p.17

 

 

Citation: Annales des mines: ou recueil de memoires sur l'exploitation..., Vol. 12 1826 p.326
 

French books were 70% - 100% more expensive in London.

The London price for 3 vol. set of a French title, £ 1.60 (Fr. 30.61 )


The Paris price for same 3 vol. presumably Fr 18. - 21. (£ 0.94 - 1.10)


The London price for 2 vol. set of a French title, £ 1.05 (Fr. 20.09)


The Paris price for same 2 vol. presumably Fr 10. - 13. (£ 0.52 - 0.68)

UK, 1818: Friedrich (Frederick or F.) Accum's Catalogue

In his Notebooks, Dr. Wollaston noted with alarm the greater economy of his French competition by 1818.  This Continental cost-reduction, depleted  sources, and hazardous specie forex forced Wollaston out of the refinery business by 1820.

Wollaston sold ~4,300 Ozt (~134 kgs) Platinum in 1818.  

In Sterling, in the period (1800-1818) Dr. Wollaston refined Platinum, the price of platina had risen ~7%; however, the price in Silver Spanish Dollars had risen ~45%. 

At the same time, the Sterling price of French Platinum (his competition) had fallen -59%. 

c.1800: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (French Producer) = ~£ 1.81 
1818 Troy Oz. Platinum (French Producer) = ~£ 0.75 (Fr. 17.55 - 18.53)

1800: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Wollaston's initial cost)  = £ 0.1334 (S$ 0.5853)

1818: 1 Troy Oz. platina (bulk ore: Wollaston)  = £ 0.1430 (Fr. 3.35, S$ 0.8471)

1818: 1 Troy Oz. Pt (Ore: 80% at purity)  = £ 0.1788 (Fr. 4.20 -4.42)
1818: 1 Troy Oz. Pt (UK Refining Cost)  = £ 0.1000 (Fr. 2.34 - 2.47)
1818: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (UK Producer's Cost)  = £ 0.2788 (Fr. 6.52 - 6.90)
1818: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Paris Producer's Price)  = £ 0.2788 (Fr. 6.52)
 
1818: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (scrap, Bollman) = £ 0.2432 (Fr. 5.70)
c.1820: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (scrap, Johnson) = £ 0.6441

Feb., 1819. I understand from Mr. Tennant that [platinum] retorts have been made in Paris of about 30 gallon capacity and weighing about 900 ounces at 15 shillings per ounce.

1818: I was fortunate to locate, examine and photograph ephemera at the Boston Public Library.  Although undated, this catalogue offers for sale the first edition of Chemical Amusements (1817) and the Third Edition of Practical Treatise on Gas-Light (c.1816).

The following photographs (mine) therefore illustrate the 1818 prices for "platina" (refined platinum) in various forms.  

F. Accum's 1812, 1816, 1817 and 1818 editions offer identical Platinum prices.  If fine Silver sold at 7s. per Troy ounce in 1812, a Silver Crucible for 18s. was ~15 grams, but the rate for manufactured (imported?) Platinumware is unknown but probably much much greater than wire.  Pt Crucibles were sold in Paris for about £ 0.90 at this time; the manufactured rate in Accum's catalogue follows W. &S. Jones'.

1818: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, whols./retail: F. Accum)  = £ 0.25 (USD$ 1.31)

1818: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (semi-mfg, catalogue) = £ 1.- 1.05 ($5.22 - 5.48)

1818: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (mfg, catalogue: F. Accum)  ~ £ 1.75 (USD$ 8.05)

1817:

Reference for an uncertain date after 1817 and before 1822:
c.1821?: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (manufactured, retail) ~ £ 1.05

Citation: Encyclopaedia Britannica: or, A dictionary of arts, sciences, and ..., Volume 2 (1824) p.341




December 1818 - February 1819: £ 1. = Fr 23.40

September 1818: