France, 1817

Assuming the Kilogram 32.68387 Paris Onces, 
Pd.M. Rate is Fr.64.- 80. ; Kg Rate is Fr. 130.-165.


c.1817: 1 Troy Oz. platina (Common Ore, Paris Spot) = Fr 5. (£ )

Citation: Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle..., Vol. 26 (1818) p.583


Possibly Late 1816 news, reported by C.L. Cadet.
 

c. February, 1817:
Citation: Journal de pharmacie et des sciences accessoires, No.3, March 1817 p.242



c. March, 1817: 
March, 1817: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (refined) = Fr 13.76 (£ 0.554)
March, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (semi-mfg) = Fr 14.74 (£ 0.593) 
March, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (assembly) ~ Fr 2.54 (£ 0.102)
March, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (fully mfg still) = Fr 18.29 (£ 0.7360)

1817: 20 Kilograms Platinum Ingot > 15.5 Kilogram Platinum Still of 162 Litres

Citation: Bulletin de la Societe D'Encourgement Pour L'Industrie Nationale (1817) p.68
 





March 1817: reporting, with errors!


April, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Refined) = Fr 13.76 (£ 0.5651)
April, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Semi-Mfg) = Fr 14.74 (£ 0.6053)
April, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Assembly) ~ Fr 2.54 (£ 0.102)
April, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Fully Mfg Still) = Fr 17.28 (£ 0.7097)


(Apparently written with great detail & expansive knowledge, after 1815 and the Mint's acquisition of the famous 1816 Jeanetty boiler.)

Platina grains were sold by the lot, sorted and sight-graded by size and apparent purity; no reference to specific gravity.  This Paris Price was 33% - 54% higher than Wollaston's cost, suggesting a trade rate.

c.1818?: 1 Troy Ounce platina (Paris, trade) = Fr 4.06 - 5.08 (USD$ 0.93)

Citation: Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts..., Vol. 26; Charles S. Sonnini (1818)



 
The key was to simplify the processing and it is this simplification, it is above all the company made ​​more than had great yet been done, which determined a reduction by half in the price of platinum, for the ore has increased rather. 

One can hardly boast of a further decline before a very great abundance of ore and considerable demands require to deal with at once larger quantities, and your Committee believes that the price of Fr. 15 - 18. an ounce, which is now reduced, making it accessible to many manufacturers. In this respect, MM. Cuoq and Couturier have done a great service to the arts, they would make even more if they could lower their prices.

You, gentlemen, on many occasions, encouraged Mr. Jannety, you constantly applauded his success, and you are always willing to assist his efforts and perseverance in working platinum.


July 16, 1817: Albert Gallatin recommends a Platinum metre manufactured by Fortin for the cost of £ 105.  The Platinum metre received was 125 cm³ (5 mm * 25 mm * 1,000 mm)
at a presumed density of 20.5487 (c.1873: noting the arsenical alloy) a total weight of ~ 2.57 Kgs or 82.58 Ozt. for the French Unit.

July, 1817: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Paris: Mfg) ~ £ 1.2715 (Fr. 30.963) 




March, 1818: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum-Clad Copper (Semi-Mfg) = Fr 2.86 




1817: Bréant of Paris produced a Platinum still of 162-litres weighing 15.5 kg for Cuoq & Couturier's 1816/7, the weight per Litre was 3.076 Troy Ounces; the amount of Litres contained per Troy Ounce was 0.3251 Litres.

Suisse, 1838

Presumably calculating in the Swiss fluid ounce (not an English ounce, nor the long since abandoned Paris once)  Dr. Melly in Geneva assumed '1 once = 27cc' so "15 once de l'eau" is 405 cc (or 13.69 US fluid ounces, 14.25 British Imperial ounces.) 

By volume, a 400 cc dish weighed about 105 g; a platinum vase of 3.3735 Ozt. for "at least" Sw.Fr. 200 implies a very high cost (import duty?) exaggerated:

c.1836: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (Mfg, Ret) = Sw.Fr Sw 59.29 (USD$ 11.16)

At nearly 1/10th the price, the plated manufacture (w/ 14 g platinum) would cost just SwFr 30, all labor and materials.

Citation: Bibliothèque universelle de Genéve, Volumes 15-16; Auguste Arthur de Rive (1838) pp. 375-

Citation: Journal de chimie médicale, de pharmacie et de toxicologie (1838) p.570

Reported in Paris 12/2/1838.

Citation: La France industrielle, manufacturière, agricole et commerciale (12/2/1838)

Citation: Statistique de la Suisse: ou Tableau des forces matérielles et morales des ...; Stefano Franscini, Alexandre Michod (1855) p.482 


Citation: Archiv der Pharmazie: chemistry in life sciences, Vol. 23; Apotheker-Verein im Nördlichen Deutschland, Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft, Apotheker-Verein in Norddeutschland (1840) p.346

USA, Switz./Belg., c.1888: Metal Prices Compared

Discrepancies appear in US metal price lists republished from British & Continental sources.  It appears that the latter are most often verifiable (likely correct) elsewhere, whereas purported 'US prices' either have obvious errors or may include higher retail prices.

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (ore, whols.)  = USD$ 7.79

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium= (error) ...

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Osmium (refined? whols.)  = USD$ 38.13
c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Ruthenium (refined, whols.)  = USD$ 112.
c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Iridium (refined, whols.)  = USD$ 40.63
c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Rhodium (error or retail)  = USD$ 612.

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Platinum (refined, whols.)  = Fr 31.10 - 37.33 (USD$ 6. - 7.20)

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Palladium (refined, whols.) = Fr 479.63 (USD$ 92.20)

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Osmium (refined, whols.)  = Fr 445.26 (USD$ 85.59)
c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Ruthenium (refined, whols.)  = Fr 822. (USD$ 158.25)
c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Iridium (refined, whols.)  = Fr 373.41 (USD$ 71.92)

c.1888: 1 Troy Oz. Rhodium (refined, whols.)  = Fr 787.87 (USD$ 151.75)

c.1887/8:


This Swiss watchmakers' publication may offer an accurate comprehensive list of rare metals; variations in other French & British papers followed over the next few years.

1887/8:

Citation: Journal suisse d'horlogerie, By Société des arts de Genève. Classe d'industrie et de commerce (1888/9), p.224

France, 1825: Bovy's Medal; High Paris Price

1825: 1 Troy Ounce platina (ore @ Paris) = Fr 15.47 (USD$ 2.87)
c.1824: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (refined) = Fr 30.48 (USD$ )

1825: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (refined, mfg.?) = Fr 32.51 (USD$ 6.32)

The first significant production began in 1824 and was communicated in May-July 1825. In Paris, von Humboldt's summary news of recent discoveries may then have diminished Continental prices. (He was certainly among the most informed and current, at that period.)

A shortage of actual Platinum for the market, however, persisted.

Late May, 1825: Presentation of Ural Platinum source; doubts remain.





Early Summer, 1825: Boussingault's 1824 Colombian discovery (1824) and the Russian discovery (1824) confirmed.



Citation: Nouvelles annales des voyages, de la géographie et de l'histoire ..., Vol. 9 (1826) p.408

May > July 1825 news: Colombian platina price falls ~50% in Europe.

"The value of Russian platina, far from being dependent on that of America, has an opposite influence on the latter, whose price dropped by half when the first mine was opened in the Urals"

c.1824: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (refined) = Fr 30.48 (USD$ )
1825: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (refined, bulk) = Fr 32.51 (USD$ 6.32)
1825: 1 Troy Ounce Platinum (Swiss Mkt Price) = Sw.Fr 40.63 (~USD$ 7.90)

Soret’s unpublished correspondence about striking a commemorative medal in Geneva for the jubilee and golden wedding in 1825 of Grand Duchess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (wife of Goethe’s and Soret’s employer Grand Duke Charles Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; Goethe was a member of the Grand Duke’s privy Council, Soret tutor to the princes).

Page 129, part of a numbered paragraph (undated, but apparently from October 1825) :

3rd: "A discount has also been requested on the platinum medals. (Designer of the medal) Bovy’s first proposal was Fr. 36 per Unze with a discount on the usual price; Platinum costs Fr. 30 per Once in Paris; let's assume that in Geneva it costs Fr. 40 it still wouldn’t reach the very high price of the medals. Have you inquired only about the price of the metal?  The medals [each] weigh 2 3/16 Unzen. Supposing that the platinum doesn’t cost more than Fr. 40 per Unze, which is already exorbitant, each medal wouldn’t contain more than Fr. 90 worth of raw material. Is it thus necessary to pay Fr. 35? These gentlemen are advertising a discount of Fr. 35 on each; they earnestly request you to settle the matter more favorably once and for all."

Late 1825: High price of platina noted, unspecified. Jean-Robert Bréant first reports the successful working of refined, pure Platinum leaf by a Paris gold-beater (artisan of gold-leaf) in January 1826.

Citation: Bulletin de La Societe D'Encouragement pour L'Industrie Nationale... ; Ministre secretaire d'Etat de l'Interieur (1825) p.416

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

1825: The French importation of platina was 259.82 Kgs (~ 8,353.4 Ozt.)
 


In 1825 (following the death of Janety Père in 1820) Bréant assumed control of 'Maison Jeanetty.'