History of Silver

Modern day Turkey is considered to be the first real source of processed Silver. Silver has long been a precious metal sought by all who wish to create a symbol of wealth. Silver can be fashioned into very decorative jewelry. Silver allows itself to be worked in the same fashion as Gold. Silver is very pliable and allows excellent blending to produce different alloys. Generally speaking Gold and Silver are the two precious metals that mankind has come to view as the main staple for jewelry making. Craftsmen who worked with Silver as an art, flourished in the regions of the Greek Islands, and Asia Minor.

The first real effort to mine Silver was begun before 3000 B.C. The process to extract Silver from lead and silver based ores was one of the first attempts to capture Silver in a more pure refined form. The process used to do this was simple, and was called Cupellation. The Chaldeans are said to have perfected this process of Cupellation. Having perfected the Cupellation process by 2500 B.C., Silver was well onto its way of being mined in a way that would allow quantity and quality. Mankind had found a remarkable metal.

Armenia having come onto the Silver mining scene in 2500 B.C. allowed for many Discoveries of Silver deposits being found among its lands. In 1200 B.C. Athens Greece became the focus of the major Silver production and most techniques were being perfected that allowed the ancient refiners to get higher yields, from the ore that was being mined. The quality of Silver was also beginning to be more refined and of a much greater purity level than 1000 years before.

Silver had truly became a desired and well sought after metal that would shape the future of what mankind would call precious metals. Latter in the history of Silver Spanish Silver took its rightful place as the King of production sources for the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire used much of the mined Silver coming from the mines in Spain. Rome was one empire that had believed in the stockpiling of this precious metal.

In 8 B.C. the Spanish mines were of such importance they even played a major role in the Asian Spice trade. Major increases in Silver production began in the time period from 300 BC to 1000 AD, in this time period newer and broader methods began to present themselves to the art of Silver mining. The Silver this time period produced in history is the greatest amount of mining and production of raw Silver witnessed minus the efforts of the 1800s in California and Nevada.

Today’s Silver is a far cry from the Silver of old.