UK (Australia), 1920: Tasmanian Osmiridium

February, 1920: 1 Troy Oz. Osmiridium (Tasmania) ~ £ 40. (USD$ )
March, 1920: 1 Troy Oz. Osmiridium (Tasmania) = £ 42.50 (USD$ 155.55)
December, 1920: 1 Troy Oz. Osmiridium (Tasmania) ~ £ 35. (USD$ )
Dec. Low, 1920: 1 Troy Oz. Osmiridium (Tasmania) ~ £ 30. (USD$ )
 
  March, 1920: Osmiridium Price Price in Tasmania, Australia?









1918-1919: A 'significant' export of Osmiridium from Papua (reported in Pacific Ports Manual, 7th Ed. 1921) was presumably declared in avoirdupois ounces (hence, 5.5 lbs. avd or 80.66 Troy Ounces.) A packet of 2.5 lbs. avd is 36.46 Troy Ounces, whereby a single opportune discovery (in the rainy season, April 1919?) represented nearly half the entire Papuan export for that year.



c.January 1920: 1 Troy Oz. Osmiridium (London) ~ £ 32.91 (USD$ 156.66)



Anecdotal, by August 1921:


1920: USGS market prices suggest January 1920 price for the Osmiridium quotation; US imports of osmiridium were nearly four times higher in 1920.

USA, 1920/1: Platinum Thefts

1921: Summary of The Problem: 'the inside job' !



Peak Price and Thefts great and small


France, c. 1920:

Russia, 1825

Although appreciable quantities were discovered in 1824, the richest platina placer in Perm, Russia was discovered in March, 1825 ; the massive yield began May-October of that year.

Caravans carried the ore to St. Petersbourg in the Fall/Winter, 1825/6. Ural caravans were slow; as an example of Winter voyages, hearsing the deceased Emperor's body from Taganrog (on the Azov) to St. Petersburg took 13 weeks. In St. Petersbourg, the local price of platina had fallen by one-third in early 1826 (with the arrival of the Late Summer/Autumn caravan.)

Earlier German reports (1819) of the Russian platina discovery were not believed in Europe. News reached Paris from von Humboldt's announcement in March, 1826 (a date wrongly assumed for the output, in many republications.) This was conclusively demonstrated with Russian Platinum samples sent abroad in July, 1826.

1825: In Russia, the processing of platina began 28 August 1825.



News of the massive yield preceded the actual platina caravan's arrival in Spb by some months.

1826: The platina price (?) fell by one-third in the Winter, 1825/6.



Reported 18 July 1826 in Paris; news in British Honduras by February 1827, and common-knowledge in the USA by the Autumn of 1827:

Citation: The American Journal of Science, Vol. 12 (June 1827) p.384


Where 1 Zolotnik = .137152 Troy Ounce, and where and the source price rose 63.74% in 1828,

1825: 1 Troy Ounce platina (ore @ Perm) = 4.3747 руб = (USD$ )
1828: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore @ Perm) = 7.1632 руб = (USD$ )

The first customer was the [Russian] government. From the years 1825 to 1843, delivery of the whole platinum yield to the Crown was required. The price was 60 kopecks per Solotnik initially, or 302 Marks per kilogram, with an additional 10 to 12 percent in taxes deducted. Three years later [1828] the price rose to 494.5 Marks per kilogram and the end of Coinage Period (1843) to 623.2 Marks. Until the appearance Matthey, the price then dropped almost to zero.

According to Neumann (from an unknown source and with 1899 forex: 1M = 0.458 руб) the miners were paid 4.88 Kopecks per Zolotnik of platina, or 35.61 Kopecks per Ozt.

1819: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, Perm) = 0.3561 руб Silver? = 1.3526 руб 
1825: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, Perm) = 0.4278- 0.784 руб Ag = 1.62 - 2.97 руб
1825: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore, mkt) = 1.567 руб Ag = 5.94 руб 


1825: 1 Troy Oz. platina (sold to SPb Mint) = 3.66 руб Ag = 13.87 руб

At London Silver Rates, the first price of Russian platina in 1819 was £ 0.0584 ; the leasees' 1825 base-price was £ 0.0683 - £ 0.1253 and they sold the metal for £ 0.2538 (about 5 Shillings) per Ozt.  

In 1828, the Mint
 
Der Finder des ersten Platins in Rußland erhielt 25 ℳ. für das Kilogramm im Jahre 1819. Der erste Pächter in Nischny-Tagilsk bezahlte 1825 30—55 ℳ. und verkaufte das Rohmetall mit 110 ℳ. Die Regierung bezahlte etwa 302,5 ℳ. bei der Einlieferung des Platins zur Münze, jedoch wurden noch Abzüge von 10—15% gemacht.

The first discoverer of platinum in Russia received 25 ℳ. per kilogram in 1819. In 1825, the first tenant in Nizhny-Tagilsk paid 30-55 ℳ. and sold the raw metal for 110 ℳ.  The government paid about 302.5 ℳ. on admission to the platinum coin, however, further deductions of 10-15% were still made.

Other sources report the Russian Government paid leasees ~60 Kopecks per Zolotnik of Platinum, consistent with Neumann's 302.5 ℳ./kg price.

Another estimation, from a much later republished source?

1825: Continental Europe/Eastern Seaboard USA: Global Platinum Price High

Although the actual Market Price for refined Platinum was in flux, the official or tariffed French Platinum Price also marks a high in 1825.

1826: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (unspecified; presumed tariff) = Fr. 106.41 ($USD 20.)

On secondary markets beyond Paris and London, the price of refined imported Platinum soared. In Frankfurt-am-Main, and probably since 1825, Platinum in 1828 was sold at one-third the Price of Gold or "5x the Price of Silver." That German price was clearly unsustainable by the Late Summer of 1828, as news of massive yields (and smuggled ore) surely depressed prices.

The Colombian government started dumping platina in late 1827, and the Cartagena price plunged in September 1828.

In 1824, the Russian platina yield was between 50.34 - 64.42 kgs.

Citation: Die Metalle, Bernhard Neumann (1904) p.360


Russian weight:

France: General Summary of Platinum Demand; 1822 Peak Price indicated

1822 marked a Peak Price for refined Platinum. This might be considered an Rouble forex error if several years later and Palladium's 1822 Peak Price of ~Fr. 600. was not well-documented.

1822: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (nominal @ Paris) = Fr. 311. 04 (USD $60.15)

1870: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (presumed refined) = Fr. 40.44 (USD $ 7.90)
1895: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (presumed refined) = Fr. 93.31 (USD $18.23)

Citation: La Revue scientifique, Vol. 71 (1903) p.93

France, 1827: "The Price Fell in St. Petersburg by a Two-Thirds"

The Paris Exposition in August 1827 of Cuoq & Courturier's massive ingot may have occasioned the ~50% collapse of the Platinum Price in Paris; it's not clear that platina (ore) is meant here.

December, 1825: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Mfg) = Fr 32.51 (USD$ 6.32)
September, 1827: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Mfg) = Fr 27.94 (USD$ 5.25)

Citation: Histoire de l'exposition des produits de l'industrie française en 1827; Adolphe-Jérôme Blanqui (1827) p.34


Where the French once is .9844 Troy Ounce in all French calculations.

1826: 1 Troy Ounce platina (ore @ Paris) = Fr 15.47 (USD$ 2.87)

1826: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (mkt) = Fr 27.94 (USD$ 5.26)

Early, 1827: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Mfg, Retail) = Fr 39. (USD$ 7.35)

July, 1827: 1 Troy Ounce platina (Bulk ore @ Paris) ~ Fr 8.38 (USD$ 1.61)

July 1827: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Refined, Mfg?) = Fr. 32.51 (USD$ 6.24)

August, 1827: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Refined, Ingot) = Fr. 27.96 (USD$ 5.26)

c.1828: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (manufactured) = Fr 31.1 (USD$ 5.85)

In late 1825/6, the price of platina in Saint-Petersbourg fell by ~33%. Calculated at nominal metallic Rouble rates, 1824/5 likely marked a Russian price peak for the entire 19th Century. This singular event was repeated without date or context (as if current news) for some years afterwards. Curiously, whenever a major discovery of platina was announced, a similar headline ran: 'dropped by one-third.'

In 1827, commercial intelligence typically took ~12 days, St. Petersbourg to London.
S. Petersbourg - Wien: 14 days

Count Cancrin's expertise as a financier was legend; his Late August letter cites a dropping platina price and betrays a strong desire to have von Humboldt certify the value the Platinum coinage scheme.

In all likelihood, Cancrin's Late August Letter cites the Paris prices for June-July 1827. Even when Paris prices (for platina & Platinum) were then volatile, we may ascertain dates from the exchange of letters between Cankrin and Alexander von Humboldt.

1) Cancrin's 15 August Letter is received in Berlin ~21 days later: ~7 September.
2) von Humboldt queries source(s) in Paris & London, in Letter(s), ~ 15 Sept.
3) Bréant replies to von Humboldt ~ Mid-Late October.
4) von Humboldt receives Paris information Mid-November, ~ 2 weeks' post.
5) Cancrin's 22 October Letter arrives in Berlin ~21 days later, Mid-November.
6) von Humboldt replies immediately, 17 November.
7) Cancrin replies immediately, 20 December: ~3 weeks' post, St. Petersburg to Berlin.

One Paris informant appears to be none other than Bréant himself; his name is cited (in the von Humboldt letter, 19. November 1827) indicating a competitor's price was "8-10% cheaper than the above."

No London data is given; probably, no reply was received.

Citation: Im Ural und Altai: Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Graf ...; A. von Humboldt, Egor F. Kankrin (18 ) p.3
 
Ich habe mancherlei Nachrichten über den Werth der Platina aus Frankreich und England zusammenbringen lassen, aus denen man hier hat schließen wollen, daß im Mittel die Unze roher Platina etwa 8 und mehr Franken kostet, die Unze völlig gereinigter aber gegen 32 Franken. 

I can enjoin various news from France and England about the value of Platinum, decidedly concluding that on average, the Once of platina costs about 8 or more Francs, against Fr. 32 for an Once refined pure.

Citation: Nouvelles annales des voyages, de la géographie et de l'histoire ..., Vol. 32 By Jean Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, Malte-Brun (1826), p.116.

Citation: Museum of foreign literature and science, Vol. 10, (1827), p.93

Citation: Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. 32 (1828) p.248

In 1827, news from New York to Paris might travel in 4 weeks.

1827: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (mkt) = Fr 27.49 (USD$)
 

Citation: Histoire des Expositions des produits de l'Industrie Française (1855) Achile de Colmont, p.232

Citation: The London literary gazette and journal of belles lettres, arts, sciences, etc (1827) p.670

Citation: Annales des mines ou Recueil de mémoires sur l'exploitation des ..., Vol. 2 (1827), p.453

1827: The massive ingot was 2,862 English Troy oz.

Citation: Annales des mines ou Recueil de mémoires sur l'exploitation des ..., Vol. 2 (1827) p. 513

Citation: Travaux de la Commission française sur l'industrie des nations; Vol. 6, Great Exhibition (1851, London) p.254




The French Mint had only recently begun refining platinum-alloyed gold bullion (which had sat for years, awaiting just such a technological improvement. This may have provided an increased supply for Bréant (the Mint Director) to employ, at discount.

Official valuation of Platinum in 1826 and in 1835:
Citation: Revue mensuelle d'économie politique, Vol. 4-5, Edit. by Théodore Fix (1836), p.441



Cuoq & Courturier's massive ingot was reported in Germany in mid-October, 1827.

Presumably, France imported 0.3878 kgs ore and exported 2.03 kgs Platinum?

Citation: Allgemeine Handlungs-Zeitung: mit den neuesten Erfindungen..., Vol. 34 p.518


1827: The (1 August) 1827 Exhibition at the Louvre of a massive Platinum ingot was reported in The New Monthly (December 1827) and thereafter until 1829 as 'news.'

c. June, 1828:

Where 8.5 Kgs = ~273.3 Ozt
Complete with accessories, Bréant's (1826/7) smaller boiler had a Platinum weight per Litre of 6.5071 Troy Ounces; the amount of Litres contained per Troy Ounce was 0.1537 Litres.

Citation: Recueil industriel, manufacturier, agricole et commercial, de la ..., Vol. 8 (1828) p. 331

Russian Prices at French equivalents, where 1 Zolotnik = .137152 Troy Ounce and before the Paris Platinum price collapsed:

July, 1827: 1 Troy Ounce platina (bulk ore @ SPb) = Fr 20.44 (USD$ 3.92)

April/ May? 1827:
 
If stuck at the same modality/density as the Gold,


German historical perspective (1870s):

Uncertain reference: erroneous historical data ?

1827: 1 Troy Ounce platina (Est. Ural Source Cost, purity) ~ Fr 11.88  
1827: 1 Troy Oz Platinum (Est. Cost Basis) ~ Fr 13.77 
1827: 1 Troy Oz Platinum (SPb: Est. Paris Mkt) ~ Fr 32.16

 
7/1827: 1 Troy Ounce platina (SPb: 71.37% pure) ~ 
7/1827: 1 Troy Ounce platina (SPb)= ~ Fr 19.89 ~ 5.01 руб (Ag) 

Citation: The Mineral industry, Volume 17 (1909) p.718