USA, 1816: Philadelphia Price

A note in Wollaston’s hand and dated 8 December 1817 records Bollmann’s promise
“to write to Mr. Vaughan of Philadelphia for 100 or 200 lbs crude Pl at 6 Dollars on my account” 

 USD$ 6./Lb. was the known and available wholesale price in Philadelphia 1814-16.

A holograph letter from E. Bollmann to J. Vaughan dated 10 August 1816 was likely from London (received ~Oct 1.)  Dr. Bollmann left Philadelphia for London in early April and arrived in the UK May 1816 ; he had known the wholesale bulk platina to be readily available @USD$ 6./lb. avd.  

It is curious Bollman would request platina from the USA so soon after his arrival in London: this would indicate a significantly higher platina price and or scarcity in the metreopolis. 

Dr. Robert Hare's letter (1816) clearly implies a platina purchase totaling of 4 lbs. avoirdupois, sold retail avoirdupois at Philadelphia (or Baltimore ?) for USD$ 10./lbs. avd. Where 8 Ounces Avoirdupois = 7.292 Troy Ounces:

1814: 1 Troy Ounce platina (Phila., bulk, 70%)  = USD$ 0.4114
1814: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Assumed labor, $6.425./lb avd) = $0.44057  
1814: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Producer Cost, $12.50/lb avd) = $0.8520
1814: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Producer Est. Cost, $15./lb avd) = $1.0286
1814: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Manufacturer's Price, $60./lb avd) =  $4.115

1816: 1 Troy Ounce platina (retail,70%?)  = USD$ 0.6857
1816: 1 Troy Oz. Pt (intrinsic)  = USD$ 0.9797
1816: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (intrinsic, mfg cost) = USD$ 1.42
1816: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (est. Mfg Base Price) = USD$ 5.73
1816: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (est. Mkt Price) ~ USD$ 12.

Refined Pt Manufacturer's Cost (double the platina ) is therefore estimated at ~$21./lbs avd., about 39% more expensive than Bollman's 1814 rate.

The 1816 Exchange with London was £ 1.: USD $5.0732
1816: 1 Troy Oz. platina (ore @ London)  = £ 0.1417  (USD$ 0.74)
1816: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (UK import + 15% tariff) = USD$ 6.78

 

Citation: The life of Robert Hare: an American chemist (1781-1858) By Edgar Fahs Smith, 1917, p.44

The July 1816 The Portico of Baltimore carried a notice from a pseudonym "L. B. Alberti"

USA, 1852: Chemists' Catalogues (McAllister & Bros; Bullock & Crenshaw)

1852: 1 Troy Oz. platina (California: ore, intrinsic) = $ 5.00 
1852: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (refined? whols.) = $ 10.00

1852: 1 Troy Ounce platina (ore, retail) = USD $ 8.

1853: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (UK: Semi-Mfg, Ret.) = USD$ 6.81 (£ 1.40) 


1852: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Semi-Mfg., Retail) = $ 14.40
1853: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Semi-Mfg., Ret.) = $ 14.40
  
1853: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Semi-Mfg., est. Import) ~ $ 7.

1855: 1 Troy Ounce of Platinum (Manufactured, Retail) = $ 14.40

Dr. John B. Trask's Geology of the California Range (1853) probably indicated retail prices for platina on the Eastern Seaboard.

 

Successors (1849) to the Smith & Hodgson apothecary business at Sixth and Arch streets in Philadelphia, May 1852 prices : 

1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Sponge: Refined, Retail) = USD $ 12.
1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Mfg, Retail) = USD $ 14.40  
  
1852: 1 Ozt. Iridium (Refined, Retail) = USD $ 62.40 
 
Citation: Catalogue of Chemicals and Chemical Wares, Imported Manufactured and For Sale by Bullock & Crenshaw, 1852, p.10, 13,  
 





1852: Oertling Balance, imported from Berlin: USD$ 95.
 



1852: Greiner's Hydrometer, imported from Berlin: USD$ 3.25
 


US East Coast Import Wholesale/Retail was at least 25% higher than German (Frankfurt) Retail.

1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Erfurt, Ger: Wire, Whols/Ret.) = USD$ 9.13 (Thlr 12.77)
1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Erfurt, Ger: Mfg, Whols/Ret.) = USD$ 11.41 (Thlr 15.96) 

1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Sponge: Refined, Whols/Ret.) = USD $ 12.
1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Whols/Ret.) = USD $ 14.40 
1852: 1 Ozt. Platinum (Mfg, Whols/Ret.) = USD $ 14.40 

Citation: Descriptive catalogue of chemical apparatus, chemicals and pure reagents (1852 Bullock & Crenshaw, p. 28 ,42)

In Jones, White & McCurdy's  Catalogue of dentists' materials, consisting of porcelain teeth, gold and tin foils, gold and silver plate, dental instruments, corundum wheels, and all other articles used by the dental profession (Phila., 1853?)

p.15 "Sponge Platina per dwt. 63 [cents]"  @ USD$ 12.60/oz

1853: 1 Troy Ounce of Platinum (sponge, intrinsic, whols.) = $ 12. - 12.60
1853: 1 Troy Ounce of Platinum (US producer, est) ~ $ 6.

1853: 1 Troy Ounce of Platinum (semi-mfg., whols.) ~ $ 15.12

No specific mention of platina or platinum for sale in Davis’s descriptive catalogue of apparatus and experiments to illustrate the following branches of science : namely, galvanism, electro-magnetism, electro-dynamics, magneto-electricity, magnetism, thermo-electricity, by Daniel Davis, Jr. (Boston: Marden & Kimball, 1838.) The 1842 Catalogue offers no Platinum either. However, his 1852 Catalogue of apparatus to illustrate magnetism, galvanism, electro-dynamics, electro-magnetism, magneto-electricity, and thermo-electricity... by Daniel Davis, Jr. (Boston: s.n., 1852)  lists "Platinum Wire & Foil" and "Platinum Slips for Grove's Batteries" but without prices on Page 46.  Otherwise, his (platinum) battery prices seem marginally higher than the competition in Philadelphia.

Fig. 17 (p.8)  Grove's Battery (single) $2.

Fig. 18 (p.9)  Grove's Battery (in a Box, per pair) $1.50, $2., $2.50

Fig. 110 (p. 21) Grove's Battery (covered) $6. to 8.  

1851- : Manufactured Platinum duty; unmanufactured Platinum not tariffed.

 

1854: Dr. John Lewis moved to Buffalo in 1844 or 1847. Platinum difficult or costly to procure in Buffalo NY, c. 1844-53, and unfamiliar to older dentists.

Iridium, mislabeled "Rhodium."


1852? : 1 Troy Ounce Iridium (Wholesale: "Best" Ore) = USD$ 120. 

Citation: Hunt's merchants' magazine and commercial review, Vol. 30; Isaac Smith Homans (Feb. 1853) p.249

Uncertain date for a High.  This may be a confusion: Osmium was cited in NY catalogues in the mid-1850s at this rate, but Rhodium at half the price ($120.)

1855??? : 1 Ozt. Iridium (Erroneous Guess?) = USD$  242. ; ~Fr 1,250. 

Citation: Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie (1858) p.222

c. 1855: Odd lots of best-quality Rhodium granules, "$120./oz."

c.1853:




Strange report 

USA, 1838: Early Platinum Industry in Philadelphia (General, 1840s)

In the USA, platina was imported but no formal industry existed.  Benjamin Silliman & Robert Hare purchased platina, but it's unknown how their worked Platinum was commercialized.

In this period, Platinum sold in the USA was presumably imported otherwise, at Paris or London market rates.  Although the West Point expense list (drafted in 1838) does not cite weight, known price differentials for French domestic and US-imported Platinum highly recommends "1 oz." for this amount.

1838:  1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg, Imp?, Ret.) = USD$ 10.

Citation: Expenses of West Point Military Academy (1839)  US Senate Document, p.263


Another uncertain weight, a London shipment of platina dust suggest 25% the value of Gold-dust.  Where Gold dust (96% pure, at Sterling rates) may be assumed at a currency rate USD$19.87 - 20.83/oz, platina would be higher, at a gold-rate USD$17.50/ounce, lower.  Subsequent years reveal highly similar prices, when adjusted to English Troy ounces.


1838:  1 Ozt. Platina (Ore) ~ USD$ 5. - 5.25
1838:  1 Ozt Platina (Ore) ~ USD$ 4.39


Unmanufactured, refined Platinum appears double the ore value; the intrinsic rate ascertained accordingly.


1838:  1 Troy Ounce Platinum (intrinsic) ~ USD$ 5.50 - 6.50


Citation: PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, DURING ... (1839)

Recollection circa 1837: a "Platinum" dental plug cost 1.25x "Gold" filling.

Citation: Dental News Letter: A Quarterly Publication Devoted to the ..., Vol. 8 (1854)


 
.c1839: what dentists referred to as "Platina" was in fact Tin.



In 1837/8, Dr. Hare is credited as the first to melt larger quantities of Platinum by flame.  Hare's preserved papers appear to omit any reference to a Platinum side-business.  If he was buying pounds at a time (in 1816) and re-fusing scrap in the largest known quantities (in 1828), his US Platinum output was significant.  (His assistant, Joaquin Bishop, established the first Platinum foundry in Malvern, PA in 1842.)  To whom was all of Hare's Platinum sold, and at what rate(s) ?

His expression for the value of scrap Platinum is peculiar and curious, or inexact: 'cost to the Producer,' not value is meant.  This focus seems notably commercial, again mysteriously.  If a producer's cost basis is lowered, why should that lower the scrap market price? Does a process that more efficiently recycles a commodity (lowering the producers' cost) ultimately raise or lower a scrap "value"?  It's otherwise unclear exactly what he means about "reducing value."

The suggestion that "Wollaston's Platinum" scaled is also noteworthy ; the same problem occurred with Russian coins produced after Perceval Johnson showed the St. Petersburg Mint how to render platina malleable.  The Johnsons supplied Wollaston with much of his platina, and their knowledge how to work platina followed the same method. 

1838?  1 Troy Ounce Platinum (recycled Scrap?) ~ USD$ 6.20 - 6.50
1838?   Labor to Recycle Platinum Scrap, per Troy Ounce ~ USD$ 1.25 - 1.30

? 1842:  1 Troy Oz. Platinum (pure, intrinsic, mkt) = USD$ 6.80

Citation: A compendium of the course of chemical instruction in the ..., Vol. 1-2, By Robert Hare (1840)  p.293












 
At Boston auction, unknown price:
   

 Hare's Oxy-Hydrogen Blowpipe:
 

Note the Merchant's assumed 15% margin, after all costs factored. Wholesale Shipping Cost, where 1 English/American yard fabric weighed an estimated 8-9 Ounces avd. (7.5 Ozt): 

c.1838?: 1 Ozt. Fine Commodity (Transport Cost, from London) = $ 0.02032