1. Introduction

The discovery of silver probably came after the discovery of two metals belonging to the same chemical group, copper and gold. As early as the first Egyptian dynasty, 3,500 BC, silver was already being used in jewelry. The first silver coins date back to the 7th century and were invented in Lydia. In the 6th century, Aegina introduced silver coinage to Greece, and all other city-states began minting silver coins. Gold, much rarer, was only later monetized following the discovery of considerable quantities for the time by Alexander the Great among the Achaemenid Persians, who were content to hoard the yellow metal, using it to buy the loyalty of their allies.

The oldest silver metallurgical process is coupellation, which was introduced to the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians. Amalgamation, already known to the Romans, was introduced by the Spanish to the mines of...