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Silver

Although silver was found freely in nature, its occurrence was rare. Silver is the most chemically active of the noble metals, is harder than gold but softer than copper. It ranks second in ductility and malleability to gold. It is normally stable in pure air and water but tarnishes when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide or sulfur. Due to its softness, pure silver was used for ornaments, jewelry and as a measure of wealth. In a manner similar to gold, native silver can easily be formed. Silver's symbol is Ag from the Latin argentum. Galena always contains a small amount of silver and it was found that if the lead was oxidized into a powdery ash a droplet of silver was left behind. Another development in this process was the discovery that if bone ash was added to the lead oxide, the lead oxide would be adsorbed and a large amount of material could be processed. By 2500 BC the cupellation process was the normal mode of silver manufacture. Silver is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Ag (from the traditional abbreviation for the Latin Argentum) and atomic number 47. A soft white lustrous transition metal, silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal and occurs in minerals and in free form. This metal is used in coins, jewelry, tableware, and photography
.
Notable characteristics

Silver is a very ductile and malleable (slightly harder than gold) univalent coinage metal with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. It has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper, but its greater cost has prevented it from being widely used in place of copper for electrical purposes. Pure silver also has the highest thermal conductivity, whitest color, the highest optical reflectivity (although it is a poor reflector of ultraviolet), and the lowest contact resistance of any metal. Silver halides are photosensitive and are remarkable for the effect of light upon them. This metal is stable in pure air and water, but does tarnish when it is exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air with sulfur in it. The most common oxidation state
 of silver is +1; a few +2 compounds are known as well,

Applications

The principal use of silver is as a precious metal and its halide salts, especially silver nitrate, are also widely used in photography (which is the largest single end use of silver). Some other uses for silver are as follows: Electrical and electronic products, which need silver's superior conductivity, even when tarnished. For example, printed circuits are made using silver paints, and computer keyboards use silver electrical contacts. Silver is also used in high voltage contacts because it is the only metal that will not arc across contacts, hence it is extremely safe. Mirrors which need silver's superior reflectivity for visible light are made with silver as the reflecting material in a process called silvering. Common mirrors are backed with aluminium.

The reverse side of the American Silver Eagle bullion coin.Silver has been coined to produce money since 700 BC by the Lydians, in the form of electrum. Later, silver was refined and coined in its pure form. The words for "silver" and "money" are the same in at least 14 languages. The metal is chosen for its beauty in the manufacture of jewelry and silverware, which are traditionally made from the silver alloy known as Sterling silver, which is 92.5% silver.

The malleability, non-toxicity and beauty of silver make it useful in dental alloys for fittings and fillings. Silver's catalytic properties make it ideal for use as a catalyst in oxidation reactions; for example, the production of formaldehyde from methanol and air by means of silver screens or crystallites containing a minimum 99.95 weight -percent silver. Used to make solder and brazing alloys, electrical contacts, and high capacity silver-zinc and silver-cadmium batteries. Silver sulfide, also known as Silver Whiskers, is formed when silver electrical contacts are used in an atmosphere rich in hydrogen sulfide. Silver fulminate is a powerful explosive. Silver chloride can be made transparent and is used as a cement for glass. Silver chloride is also a widely used electrode for pH testing and potentiometric measurement Silver iodide has been used in attempts to seed clouds
 to produce rain. In legend, silver is traditionally seen as harmful to supernatural creatures like werewolves and vampires. The use of silver fashioned into bullets for firearms is a popular application. Silver oxide is used as a positive electrode (cathode) in watch batteries. Colloidal silver is an effective antibacterial / antibiotic. It is applied to some bandage materials.

History

Silver (from Anglo-Saxon seolfor, compare Old High German silabar; Ag is from the Latin argentum) has been known since ancient times. It is mentioned in the book of Genesis, and slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated from lead as early as the 4th millennium BC. Silver has been used for thousands of years for ornaments and utensils, for trade, and as the basis for many monetary systems. Its value as a precious metal was long considered second only to gold. In Ancient Egypt and Medieval Europe, it was often more valuable than gold. Associated with the moon, as well as with the sea and various lunar goddesses, the metal was referred to by alchemists by the name luna. One of the alchemical symbols for silver is a crescent moon with the open part on the left. The metal mercury was thought of as a kind of silver, though the two elements are chemically unrelated; its Latin and English names, hydrargyrum ("watery silver") and quicksilver, respectively, reflect this history. In heraldry, the argent, in addition to being shown as silver (this has been shown at times with real silver in official representations), can also been shown as white. Occasionally, the word "silver" is used rather than argent; sometimes this is done across-the-board, sometimes to avoid repetition of the word "argent" in blazon. Europeans found a huge amount of silver in the New World in Zacatecas and Potos, which triggered a period of inflation in Europe. The conquistador Pizarro was said to have resorted to having his horses shod with silver horseshoes due to the metal's abundance, in contrast to the relative lack of iron in Peru.The Rio de la Plata was named after silver (in Spanish, plata), and in turn lent the meaning of its name to Argentina.
Occurrence

Silver ore. Silver is found in native form, combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony, or chlorine and in various ores such as argentite (Ag2S) and horn silver (AgCl). The principal sources of silver are copper, copper-nickel, gold, lead and lead-zinc ores obtained from Canada, Mexico, Peru, Australia and the United States. This metal is also produced during the electrolytic refining of copper. Commercial grade fine silver is at least 99.9% pure silver and purities greater than 99.999% are available. Mexico is the largest silver producer. According to the Secretary of Economics of Mexico, it produced 80,120,000 troy ounces (2492 metric tons) in 2000, about 15% of the annual production of the world.

Because the lion's share of the world's silver deposits happen to be concentrated in the Americas, silver was far more valuable before the Age of Discovery; on average, about one-sixth or one-seventh the cost of gold. Now, however, silver is relatively cheap compared to other precious metals, and a mass of silver is now worth only about 1/60 the same mass of gold. In turn, copper is about 1/70 as valuable as silver.

Isotopes

Naturally occurring silver is composed of the two stable isotopes Ag-107 and Ag-109 with Ag-107 being the most abundant (51.839% natural abundance). Twenty-eight radioisotopes have been characterized with the most stable being Ag-105 with a half-life of 41.29 days, Ag-111 with a half-life of 7.45 days, and Ag-112 with a half-life of 3.13 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lifes that are less than an hour and the majority of these have half lifes that are less than 3 minutes. This element also has numerous meta states with the most stable being Ag-128m (t* 418 years), Ag-110m (t* 249.79 days) and Ag-107m (t* 8.28 days).Isotopes of silver range in atomic weight from 93.943 u (Ag-94) to 123.929 u (Ag-124). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, Ag-107, is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay products before Ag-107 are palladium (element 46) isotopes and the primary products after are cadmium (element 48) isotopes. The palladium isotope Pd-107 decays by beta emission to Ag-107 with a half-life of 6.5 million years. Iron meteorites are the only objects with a high enough Pd/Ag ratio to yield measurable variations in Ag-107 abundance. Radiogenic Ag-107 was first discovered in the Santa Clara meteorite in 1978. The discoverers suggest that the coalescence and differentiation of iron-cored small planets may have occurred 10 million years after a nucleosynthetic event. Pd-107 versus Ag correlations observed in bodies, which have clearly been melted since the accretion of the solar system, must reflect the presence of live short-lived nuclides in the early solar system.

Precautions and health effects

Silver itself is not toxic but most of its salts are poisonous and may be carcinogenic. Silver and compounds containing silver can be absorbed into the circulatory system and become deposited in various body tissues leading to the condition called argyria which results in a permanent grayish pigmentation of the skin and mucous membranes. Although this condition does not harm a person's health, it is disfiguring. Ingestion of colloidal silver, silver or its dust and silver compounds can lead to argyria
.
Silver plays no natural biological role in humans. The possible health effects of silver are a subject of dispute. Silver has germicidal effects and kills many microbial organisms in vitro without causing noticeable harm to more complex life-forms. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote that silver had beneficial healing and anti-disease properties. Various kinds of silver compounds are sold as remedies for a variety of diseases. However, no clinical study has yet demonstrated a therapeutic use for silver as an antibiotic in vivo.

Silver compunds were used sucessfully to prevent infection in World War I before the advent of anti-biotics.

Silver compounds are used to accelerate healing in burn victims. Silver-ions and silver compounds show a toxic effect on some bacteria, viruses, algae and fungi because of the oligodynamic effect which is typical for heavy metals. Copper is active against algae while silver is active against bacteria primarily due to silver's activity in the absorption of oxygen causing bacteria to oxidize on contact.

Since ancient times, silver has been closely associated with the moon and lunar influences. The finest artist eyes have described the midnight sheen cast by the sun's reflection off of the moon in terms of silver. Silver is a cool color, and stands as a diametric opposite to gold. Silver is closely tied to Isis and all things flexible, creative, and emotionally intelligent.

In alchemy, silver is an archetype concept - one of seven. Before the periodic table emerged through technological advancement, there were in fact seven sacred metals, of which silver held a place of high esteem. In hermetic philosophy, an alchemical concept more than simply describes physical characteristics. All ideas were centered on discovering and utilizing the essence behind the material manifestation, with the goal of expressing in absolute terms primary principles governing both time and matter. Practitioners of the past were as much poets as scientists, and possessed unparalleled patience in their works.

Silver is even attributed in the ancient chakra system - a system of seven sacred energy centers of the body. Silver is associated with the sixth chakra, often referred to as the "third-eye". In this sense, silver certainly represents the concept of reflection, both physically (all reflective substances are silvery) and as an internal exercise of self-analysis.

Silver has always held a value above material and economic considerations. Gifts of silver jewelry in many cultures are given as a symbol of trust, truth, excellence, wisdom and love.

Even the ancient Vedas expound on the intrinsic power of silver. Within the Ayurvedic system of thought, all illness is rooted in an imbalance in the human energy system, and pure metals in precise combinations are used to help restore the body's electromagnetic balance to a state of equilibrium. Medically, silver was known to be a liver and spleen detoxifier.

In Roman and Greek Mythology, the First Age was called Golden, the second Silver. Apollo, god of truth and light, teacher of medicine, carried a silver bow. His twin sister Artemis lost a hand in battle and later was given a silver replacement by the Irish god of healing. In the shamanic religion of Bon-Po, a special river filled with silver sands is said to make anyone who drinks the water lovely asa peacock.

Islamic alchemy gives silver an important place physically and conceptually. Silver was known as one of the seven sacred bodies. Alchemical procedures were even defined in terms of silver, i.e. the silvering of other metals; the act of giving other metals silver-like qualities.

Based on evidence found on islands in the Aegean Sea, mankind has practiced the science of separating silver from lead at least as far back as 3000 BC. Advances in technology and analytical methods since that time have brought us to extreme pinnacles in a chemical understanding of silver as both a metal and an element.

Silver, Ag, has an atomic number of 47. This means it is the 47th element in the periodic table by atomic weight and contains 47 electrons. The atomic weight of silver is 107.8682, and it is in a solid state at 298 degrees Kelvin. In ground state, it has four filled valence shells and a fifth shell with one electron. Silver has a hardness rated between 2.5 and 2.7, and is therefore one of the most malleable of all metals. Silver is white and lustrous. While it is a metal, it is more aptly described as a transition element. In fluids, silver can exist in four basic forms - as a compound, a neutral particle ( as in ground silver ), a negatively charged aggregate ( particle ), and a positively charged ion.
Silver Bromide and other silver-haldide salts are used extensively in photography. Various alloys have long been used for jewelry. Silver is an excellent conductor of both heat and electricity and is therefore used extensively for electrical applications. Up until about the 1930's, silver compounds were used as a normal part of medicine, silver nitrate being the prevalent form. Silver Iodide was used in babies' eyes upon birth to prevent blinding as the result of bacterial contamination.
    

Esoteric Studies and Colloidal Silver

Some practitioners of the art of colloidal silver production believe that celestial events can effect colloidal silver production. In particular, a few researchers have noted that the moon significantly influences colloidal silver production. Amateur tests conducted indicate that the most stable colloidal silver can be made six hours prior to moonrise, or six hours after the moon sets. Such practitioners widely believe that especially high quality products can be made during a full or new moon.

Much of the colloidal silver industry is busy creating ways to effectively speed up colloidal silver production to maximize the amount of colloidal silver that can be produced in a short amount of time. However, there are those who hold fast to the ancient alchemical belief that time itself is a key factor in all chemical events and that patience IS, indeed, a virtue. The goal under this type of philosophy is to harness the complete cycles of nature, and to extend the brewing time to a day, week, month, or even longer. Usually, such formulations would be used in homeopathic doses.

There are those who also believe that not all silver is created equal! There exists at least one source of silver (from the Sahara Desert) that hermetically learned individuals prize for more spiritual reasons. It is unknown if anyone uses such silvers in colloidal silver production - indeed it is the rare individual who even knows of its existence!

While modern researchers, scientists and chemists explore the application of silver through hard science and analytical studies, there are those with broader ambitions and a more liberal attitude toward science who have begun to consider ways to improve isolated silver using different approaches. Production methods utilizing flow forms, holoforms, and other energy/electromagnetic patterning will likely begin to surface as time passes. Experimentation with light, sound and various forms of vibration have been underway for some time. The end goal of such pursuits is to create an end product that is energized, highly organized, and as "naturalized" as possible.

Regardless of whether such efforts yield any measurable benefit, there is a poetic value in beautifying any process. There is certainly room in the imagination to contemplate the differences between a "cold moon" (December) or a "hunter's moon" (June) solunar silver!

The reality of quantum physics may eventually bring mankind's understanding of natural law closer to its original roots. Studies in standing wave technology, morphogenic fields, and field theory paint an increasingly broad picture of how our universe operates as a dynamically interwoven and elastic reality. While there is ample room for imagination to explore possibilities, one can only wonder if the poetic essence of our highly expressive ancestors will ever fully resurface - or if it will simply continue to lay hidden deep and silent in the soft glow of the silvery night, where the healers of the world bath in peace after the day's work is all but done.   

The History of Silver

The history of silver is as old as the history of man. It speaks in the Bible of "Joseph, who was rich in silver, gold, and oxen". In the pre-Christian era, in certain civilizations, silver was considered more precious than gold. To the early Egyptians, silver had a religious significance and was used profusely in articles of worship.

Silver can be hammered into sheets so thin that it would take 100,000 of them to stack an inch high.

It can be drawn into a wire finer than a human hair.

It is this ductility (or ability to be formed) that makes silver the wonderful art form that it is.

Silver can be shaped by hammering, spinning, or drawing - it can be decorated with etching, chasing, or engraving - sterling silver is the queen of metals. There is no substitute.

Through the centuries, the silversmith or goldsmith has, by a process of elimination, become the most highly skilled craftsman in the world today.

In every generation the "Master Smith" would select from his apprentices those best qualified for training necessary to make a jeweler or silversmith. The less skilled craftsmen stayed in the "minor leagues" and became blacksmiths or bronze workers.
As only the finest craftsman in each generation became master gold and silversmiths, this evolution through the centuries, created a tradition of excellence in both artistry and craftsmanship which is found only in the silver field.

Silver, as we know it today, dates from the 16th and 17th Century. Prior to that time silver was available only to the extremely wealthy nobility - or to the church.
During the 17th Century there arose a new wealthy merchant class. The fortunes of these traders was founded on the sailing ship. As a sea captain returned from a voyage, with the tremendous profits made, he could purchase a second vessel. By repeating this procedure, the sea captain became a merchant prince with a fleet of vessels at his command.
These men built great estates and furnished them with all available luxuries. We find a tremendous amount of nautical derivation in the decorations, carvings, and silver of these homes.

The "Gadroon" motif so prevalent in Georgian silver is obviously derived from a rope which was a decorative treatment used on the crude wooden tables and chairs which a sea captain might have. When the time came that his wealth permitted him to have furniture made especially for himself, he oftentimes had the rope or "Gadroon" border carved into the furniture. Later, when silver was made to adorn his tables, the same rope motif was used.

The "Shell" motif found in George III items and later, is also derived from the sea, to way nothing of the "Dolphin" which was used profusely for spouts, handles, finials, and feet on various decorative pieces.

Prior to the 18th Century, silver was found primarily in the homes of the nobles or in the possession of churches in the form of chalices, crosses and altar appointments. At that time, most silversmiths were subsidized by either one of the royal households or by some local Bishop. The new wealthy middle-class permitted a number of silversmiths to support themselves as independent craftsman. In the early 1700's, the social revolution and the economic development on which it was based, made the silver craftsman an important man in his town.

In the baronial castle there was a "great standing salt" or "the ceremonial salt". This "ceremonial salt" was placed on the great "T-shaped table" in the banquet hall in such a way that the nobility sat at the head of the table with the Lord and Master, while the first cousins, second cousins, third cousins, etc., dwindling away down the table to a point of demarcation which set apart the landed gentry from the common serfs. The "salt" was passed from here up the table, and if you sat below the salt you were not only "not worth your salt" but you didn’t get any.

The expression "upper crust" comes from this same era in which the great crusted meat pies were served from the top of the table on down, and obviously the "gentry" got first choice of the crisp, flaky upper crust, and those at the foot of the table were more apt to get the soggy under crust.

Salts and peppers still have social significance and have become one of the more popular wedding presents, as in presenting a pair of sterling salts and peppers you are saying "the finest people have silver salts and peppers on their tables - you are worthy of your salt".
Jack Shepherd was not a famous early English silversmith as is sometimes supposed, but rather was a bandit and highwayman who was hanged when he was 21 years old.
Jack Shepherd was apprentice to a cabinet maker, and until he was 17 years old, he was a model youth. At that time, he either took to drink or was disappointed in love. In any event, from that time on he became one of the most notorious highwaymen in England. His greatest fame, however, was that he was a notorious escape artist. While captured on several occasions, he always made good his escape and was known as "the runaway" Jack Shepherd.

At this very time, (about 1701) footed silver came into vogue - both in gravy boats, salts and peppers, bowls, coffee pots, etc. Folks jokingly said that they had legs so they could run away like Jack Shepherd. This name has stuck to this very day.
Another illustration of interesting history behind modern design is in the long-handled pitcher spoons which we sell today for stirring lemonade in a pitcher. These "pitcher spoons" go back to early Elizabethan days when the long-handled spoons were necessary to reach the mouth as the hand had to be extended out around the great starched ruffles worn around the neck. A long-handled spoon was necessary in order to get food to the mouth without damaging your ruffles.

It is interesting to note how tradition has influenced design in the tea service.
The coffee pot is taller than the teapot. The reason behind this is that the coffee pot was derived from the early English tankard. The old pewter or silver tankard, which was found in most middle-class and better homes, was often of several quart capacity and was not necessarily reserved for a single persons use. In most modest homes a single tankard served all the men at the table.
When coffee was first introduced into England by the traders returning from Central and South America, there was no vessel in the home from which it could normally be served. It was therefore served from a tankard, but it is easy to understand how this made for difficulty pouring.

The first converted tankards had a round pipe inserted into a hole low in the tankard body which was bent up in an "S" shape on what we would consider the near side for a right handed person.

This was fine for a right handed person, but if you were left handed, its easy to understand how you had to pour backwards. For this reason, the spout was moved around opposite the handle, and this became the first coffee pot.

Unlike the coffee pot, the average teapot was based on "ball shaped" teapots which were brought back from India and China by the early traders such as Marco Polo and those who followed him.
Many a crusader brought back tea after his years in the East and, of course, a china pot in which to brew it.
The first silver teapots were fashioned after these low round china pots.
With the two entirely different sources of origin, the coffee pot deriving from the tankard and the teapot from the round china pot, we can see how, over a period of years, the tankard has come down in proportion and the teapot has evolved upwards, until today on some of the more commercial services it is sometimes only a matter of a halt an inch in height which differentiates between the two.
Prior to 1847, only the wealthy were able to afford table silver. The story goes that Sheffield was discovered by a silversmith named Bulsover who worked in Sheffield in the middle 1700's. In mending a buckle he had occasion to place a piece of copper behind a piece of sterling silver in order to reinforce a break, and when it was red hot he had occasion to tighten the vise which fused the two red hot metals together.

This fused plate, which we can liken to a sandwich of one slice of white and sone slice of rye bread, obviously only used approximately one-half the amount of silver that a piece would made of silver through and through. At first silver was fused to only one side; later it was fused to both sides of the copper.

This Sheffield plate opened a whole new market for silver with people who had the desire but not the pocketbooks for fine sterling. This ware was made for about 100 years until replaced by electro-plate. Little true Sheffield exists outside museums.

The date 1847 stands as a landmark in the silver industry. The Rogers Bros., (William, Asa and Simeon) whose names are synonymous with fine silverplate, not only had spent several years in experimenting and in preparing for the making of silverplate but for many years, previous to any knowledge of electro-plating, they had acquired a vast amount of experience in the making of coin silver such as spoons and forks . . . an experience that was to have a tremendous influence in assuring success for this new industry.

Articles of sterling silver are solid silver through and through. Sterling is 925 parts out of a thousand pure. We have a federal law which requires that all silver stamped "sterling" must be 925 parts of pure silver in every thousand parts of metal. The additional 75 parts out of a thousand are to add stiffness and durability as pure silver is quite soft.
The word "sterling" has been used to mean high-quality silver since the 1200's. At that time, the coins of England had decreased in value and contained only a little silver.
The only European coins that contained large proportions of silver, were those made by the merchants of the Hanseatic League, a group of trading cities in Northern Germany.
These coins were called "Easterlings" to distinguish them from the low-silver alloy coins of England. English speech contracted "Easterling" to "Sterling".

There is one other type of silver with which many of you will be familiar . . . coin silver.
Fine old coin silver spoons were actually hammered from individual coins prior to that time in colonial days when silver was mined in the American colonies. In the early days, you actually took a bag of coins to the silversmith and rather than melt and roll out fresh metal he merely started hammering from the coins. Many of these spoons were made from two separate coins, one for the bowl and the other from the handle, and it is possible to see on the back that two pieces were actually joined together.

While this joining was originally merely functional, in time it was elaborated to what we now know in antique silver as the "rat tail" design, which is a graceful tapering of the handle on the back of the spoon.

Sterling tableware is divided into two categories called flatware and hollowware.
Flatware is the "knife, fork, and spoon" category of silver as hollowware means the bowls, dishes, candlesticks, etc.

Sterling is the most hygienic metal known to man. It has actual germ killing properties. It is also the most durable art form and the most economical purchase that can be made for the home. Sterling silver grows more beautiful with the passing years, never wears out, and can be passed along as part of a heritage that grows stronger with passing generations. Silver has attracted mans fascination for many thousands of years. Ancient civilizations found silver deposits plentiful on or near the earths surface. Relics of these civilizations, include jewelry, religious artifacts, and food vessels formed from the durable, malleable metal. This metal took on near mystical qualities in marking important historical milestones throughout the ages, and served as a medium of exchange. The Mesopotamian merchants were doing just that as early as 700 BC.

In 1792, silver assumed a key role in the United States monetary system when Congress based the currency on the silver dollar, and its fixed relationship to gold. Silver was used for the nations coinage until its use was discontinued in 1965. The dawn of the 20th century marked an important economic function for silver, that of an industrial raw material.

Today, silver is sought as a valuable and practical industrial commodity, as well as an appealing investment precious metal. Many countries now issue silver bullion coins, among them the Unites States, Canada and Mexico. Private issue silver bullion is also available from select private mints.

Although silver is relatively scarce, it is the most plentiful and least expensive of the precious metals. The largest silver producing countries are Mexico, Peru, the United States, Australia and Chile. Sources of silver include; silver mined directly, silver mined as a by-product of gold, copper, lead and zinc mining, and silver extracted from recycled materials, primarily used photographic materials. Today, silver bullion stocks make up a significant component of silver supply.

The American Eagle Bullion program was launched in 1986 with the sale of gold and silver bullion coins.-Platinum was added to the American Eagle Bullion family in 1997.-A bullion coin is a coin that is valued by its weight in a specific precious metal.-

     Silver is used in organbuilding primarily for contacts and the tips of shorting bars.

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