Where 1 Kilogram Russian Ore ~74.8% cost ℳ 390. at the source, Fine Pt cost ~ℳ 521.39
1888: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Ural Spot, ~74.8%) = ℳ 12.130
1888: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Ural Ore, .999) = ℳ 16.217
Citation: Revue mensuelle suisse d'odontologie, Vol. 15/15 (1905) p.83
1888: 1 Kilogram Ore ~74.8% = ℳ 603.6
1888: 1 Kg. Pt .999 =ℳ 807
1888: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (German Mkt?: Ural, .999?) = ℳ 24.88
1888: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg; Whols/Ret) ~ ℳ 33.49
1888: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (semi-mfg; whols/ret) = ℳ 32.845 (USD$ 7.86)
1888: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Ural Spot, ~74.8%) = ℳ 12.130
1888: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Ural Ore, .999) = ℳ 16.217
Citation: Revue mensuelle suisse d'odontologie, Vol. 15/15 (1905) p.83
1888: 1 Kilogram Ore ~74.8% = ℳ 603.6
1888: 1 Kg. Pt .999 =ℳ 807
1888: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (German Mkt?: Ural, .999?) = ℳ 24.88
1888: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Semi-Mfg; Whols/Ret) ~ ℳ 33.49
1888: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (semi-mfg; whols/ret) = ℳ 32.845 (USD$ 7.86)
Citation: Die Metalle: Geschichte, Vorkommen und Gewinnung, nebst ausführlicher ...Bernhard Neumann p.363
"Private Communication from the platinum melting of G. Siebert, Hanau" indicates actual Bavarian producer prices at Kilogram rates. Siebert had negotiated bulk platina purchases from Russia, by contract, at presumably low trade rates.
Citation: A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals; Donald McDonald, Leslie B. Hunt(1982) p.328
The Siebert Platinum Refinery
Another establishment that s tarted as a service to the Hanau jewellery industry began to undertake platinum refining in 1881. This development was initiated by Wilhelm Siebert (1862-1927), the son of a cigar-box manufacturer, Georg Siebert (1835-1909) who had begun to treat the local goldsmith’s scrap in 1864. Wilhelm had become familiar with the methods of assaying during a period spent with a company in Pforzheim, Dr. Richter and Co., and on his return home he began to experiment in the processing of platinum, first from the goldsmiths’ residues and then from a share of the Russian coinage and other material that had been acquired by Johnson Matthey.
The new refinery was successful, and prospered further after 1884 when Wilhelm Siebert visited Russia a n d secured the promise of deliveries of platinum concentrates from the Urals on a long term basis. He recorded later that :
“We set about the refining of native platinum and the production of platinum in the highest possible purity and in maximum quantity. This gave us a great deal of work and anxiety with many set backs to be overcome” (26).
In 1889 Wilhelm’s younger brother Jean Siebert (1870-1925) joined the business and succeeded in expanding the market for platinum products, including of course lead-in wires for electric lamps, contacts for the telegraph and telephone industry and ignition tubes both at home and abroad. The fabrication of sulphuric acid boilers was also undertaken and a paper describing an improved design of a cascade apparatus was published in 1893 (27).
c. 1888: Misunderstood Russian valuation of Platinum
The Russian ruble coins were probably in 1858, and even before, once made from platinum, today this is no longer the case, however. In the former Russian 3-, 6- and 12 rubles per kilogram pieces of platinum was applied to 96.59 rubles or too little about 34.75% of the values of an equal weight of fine gold, According to Schneider v contained a Russian Platinmunze. 93.84 platinum, palladium 00:42, rhodium containing iridium 4.21, 1.26 iron, copper 0.45%.
