USA, 1867 - 1902: Neumann's Record

Bernhard Heinrich Neumann (1867-1953) worked as a practical chemist (1877/8) and began studies in electrochemistry around 1890.

His monograph, Die Metalle, Geschichte, Vorkommen, Gewinnung Statistik, 1903 includes a table with US trade prices quoted in German Marks. The original data is from two American sources, "M. Raynor" and the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia.  Herr 'M. Raynor' is in fact H.M. Raynor of New York.

The original price-table in USD$ was published by Charles Bullman, in an article of The Mineral Industry, Vol. 1, 1892.   Bullman's (problematic) data originates in Raynor's invoice list from Johnson & Matthey, in Pound Sterling.  Implicitly, prices were in US Gold, not German Marks nor (fluctuating) US paper currency, and herein lies one part of the error.

Bullman apparently used one forex rate and added a 3% shipping cost.

Citation: The Mineral Industry, Vol. 1, 1892, p.389

For this column I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. HM Raynor, the pioneer of New York in the platinum trade, who courteously gave me the invoice prices of his imports of plate and sponge from 1867 to 1890. To these prices three per cent is added...

Citation: Die Metalle: Geschichte, Vorkommen und Gewinnung, nebst ausführlicher ... By Bernhard Neumann (1904) p.367

Geo. F. Kunz's April 1898 'Lecture to the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia' : 
(USA) Platinum Wire, 1883-1898

Citation: Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 146 ; Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.: 1898) p.210.


Bullman's calculated exchange rate USD$ 4.865 per Citation: Coinage laws of the United States, 1792 to 1894, with an appendix of ... US Senate Committee on Finance (1894)


c.1890/1:
Johnson & Matthey refining cost, per Troy Oz. Pt = £ 0.0625 (USD$ 0.30)
Small firm's refining cost, per Troy Oz. Pt = £ 0.1250 (USD$ 0.61)

Citation: Economic mining: a practical handbook for the miner, the metallurgist... ; Charles George Warnford Lock (1895) p.587

Russia, 1904: Significant Historical Data on Platinum Prices, 1875-1904

1906:

 

Recently, we used excavators, which are much more advantageous, and by which a Poud of Platinum will cost at most 4,000 Roubles. {...}  The price that is paid for the Stareitely, varies between1.50 Rouble and 2.50 Roubles per Zolotnik. When using their own workers extracting the metal costs more. {...} therefore a 1.90 Roubles per Zolotnik or 4,000-7,200 Roubles per Poud {...} The average daily wage salary for a worker in the summer is 0.75 to 1 Rouble, the highest about 1.75 Rouble. 
A larger number of the largest mine owners are bound by 10-year contract; regardless of the price to the world major refineries,  their product must be delivered at a fixed price of 10,000-11,500 Roubles per  Poud. 

Die Untersuchung und Bewertung von Erzlagerstätten;  Paul Krusch (1907)





Interesting fin de siecle observations on Platinum prices from St. Petersbourg, including a surprising number of incorrect conclusions drawn from a RUSSIAN perspective on prices (without understanding foreign metals markets.) If learned contemporaries could not identify the facts, should we cautiously assume to know better?

1) First, the (incorrect) belief that Platinum's price could not exceed Gold for the 'Law of Substitution,' whereby a cheaper good/commodity must necessarily substitute for more expensive one. For unique applications and the different industrial demands for Pt, and given the retail costs (tariffs, taxes, profit, etc.) it's easy to see how this declaration was already proven false. Examine Catalogue (wholesale) prices.

2) Second, regarding price: the lowest price for ingot Platinum was in 1866 (not in 1850, nor 1840.) Again, different markets had differing circumstances. At the European low, Platinum was only twice as expensive as Silver, seven times cheaper than Gold, but the this price fact wasn't evident in the USA (the greatest consumer of Pt by 1875 or so.) So different markets must be contextualized, and extreme variances will occur.

In 1904 the price of refined Platinum was 22% higher than platina, or 500 Fr. /kg (approximately, USD $3./per oz.) more expensive. This only confirms that for many years, Russian ore prices (subject to producer/refiner manipulation) were perhaps the least informative metric for the Platinum Price and global supply/demand, 1822-1908.

1828-44: 1 Troy Ounce refined Platinum @ the Russian Mint = Fr. 35.99 (USD$ 7.04)

1866: 1 Troy Ounce refined Platinum (wholesale, Russia?) = Fr. 14.0 (USD$ 2.75)

Incidentally, UK retail prices for manufactured platinum in 1866 do not reflect that price decline.

Citation: Bulletin de statistique et de législation comparée, Vol. 56; France. Ministère des finances, 1904. pp. 644-6.





c. August 1904: The St. Petersburg Price for platina was ~28% > 45% higher than the producers' price in the Urals.

c. August 1904: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Ore, Producers' Ural Price)= 19. - 21.63 руб
c. August 1904: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Ore, SPb Mkt Price)= 27.54 руб



1846: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Bulk Scrap, SPb Mkt Price)= 6.64 руб (USD$ 4.99)
1850: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Bulk Scrap, SPb Mkt Price)= 5.83 руб (USD$ 4.44)
1859: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Bulk Scrap, SPb Mkt Price)= 5.84 руб (USD$ 4.60)
1860: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Bulk Scrap, SPb Mkt Price)= 4.28 руб (USD$ 3.35)
1866: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Bulk Scrap, SPb Mkt Price)= 3.56 руб (USD$ 2.76)

Citation: Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, Vol. 23 By Society of Chemical Industry (GB) p.568

1905: Because of theft, USGS considered the official Russian production (avg. price) statistics "meaningless":



Adjusting for Real Inflation since 1866 (5,317%) we can extrapolate an historic long term LOW for wholesale ingot Platinum @ $ 149. (in 2009 USD$)

Adjusting for Real Inflation since 1866 (5,317%) we can extrapolate a long term retail price for refined Platinum @ $ 615. (in 2009 USD$)