Silver Mining & Silversmiths: "Heirlooms of Tomorrow" 1930 US Bureau of Mines (Patreon)

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This film is silent. 'Shows the manufacture of silver tableware. Reel 1, dies and molds are made and used to make designs on silverware. Reel 2 shows operations in the manufacture of hollow ware. Reel 3 shows silver mine operations and processes by which silver is extracted. Shows ingots being rolled. Shows silver implements at a wedding and at a party.'

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

Silent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_mining_in_the_United_States

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Silver mining in the United States began on a major scale with the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1858. The industry suffered greatly from the demonetization of silver in 1873 by the Coinage Act of 1873, known pejoratively as the "Crime of 73", but silver mining continues today.

United States mines produced 1,170 tons of silver in 2014, 17% of the silver it used. 63% of consumption was imported, from Mexico, Canada, Peru and Chile, and the remainder was derived from recycling. Three US mines had silver as their primary product, and 39 mines reported silver as a byproduct of gold and base metals production. Alaska was the country's leading silver-producing State, followed by Nevada and Idaho.

Interest in silver mining increased in recent years because of an increased price for the metal: the average silver price increased from $4.39 per troy ounce for the year 2001, to $13.45 per troy ounce for 2007. In 2011, silver prices rose to almost $49 per troy ounce in April before dropping to around $34 per troy ounce in late June. In March 2016, the silver price was around $15 per troy ounce...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_mining

Silver mining is the resource extraction of silver by mining.

Silver is found in a native form very rarely as nuggets, but more usually combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony, or chlorine and in various ores such as argentite (Ag2S), chlorargyrite ("horn silver," AgCl), and galena (a lead ore often containing significant amounts of silver). As silver is often found in conjunction with these or alloyed with other metals such as gold, it usually must be further extracted through amalgamation or electrolysis.

Silver mining has been undertaken since early times. As silver is a precious metal often used for coins, its mining has historically often been lucrative. As with other precious metals such as gold or platinum, newly discovered deposits of silver ore have sparked silver rushes of miners seeking their fortunes. In recent centuries, large deposits were discovered and mined in the Americas, influencing the growth and development of Mexico, Andean countries such as Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, as well as Canada and the United States...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silversmith

A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms silversmith and goldsmith are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary greatly as may the scale of objects created...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_silver

Household silver or silverware (the silver, the plate, or silver service) includes tableware, cutlery, and other household items made of sterling silver, silver gilt, Britannia silver, or Sheffield plate silver. Silver is sometimes bought in sets or combined to form sets, such as a set of silver candlesticks or a silver tea set.

Historically, silverware was divided into table silver, for eating, and dressing silver for bedrooms and dressing rooms. The grandest form of the latter was the toilet service, typically of 10-30 pieces, often silver-gilt, which was especially a feature of the period from 1650 to about 1780...