During the Bronze Age, silver was mined principally for making silver jewelry and idols. Virtually all the silver ore found in Europe and West Asia also had lead in it. Therefore, lead mining and silver mining were done at the same places. The men who were mining the silver were also being poisoned by the lead. Consequently, most lead-and-silver miners died of lead poisoning within two or three years. Because of this reputation free men generally fought shy of working in the silver mines, and slaves (being cheaper by the dozen in those days) were forced to work in the mines instead.
Researchers were able to trace the mining history of Cerro Rico de Potosi, a major silver deposit in southern Bolivia, by tracking the metal residues that result from smelting in the sediments of a nearby lake, Laguna Lobato. The sediments, which date from about CE. 1000 to 1200, provide evidence of a major pre-Inca silver industry. Mark Abbott, a geologist at the University of Pittsburgh, said: "What is unexpected, I think, is the magnitude; there was a lot going on, and the metal is not accounted for in the archaeological record." Some people wonder if visitors arriving in the Chariots of the Gods hauled off the silver.
From the earliest of days, silver jewelry Thailand was considered so rare and valuable it was weighed in tiny units known as shekels. According to weights found at Tell Beit Mirsim a shekel weighed .40355 of an ounce. In the Maccabaean period the weight of a shekel was 218 grains or 15.126 grams. Silver has a molecular weight of 107.8682 g/mol which makes it easy to find in modern sluicing operations. In the western United States gold and, or copper is occasionally found right along with silver.
In Nevada beds of silver were found ten meters wide and some of these were more than a kilometer in length. These beds of silver lay, like a dull crust hacked off a loaf of bread right on top of the ground and in places it was worth $27,000 a ton this figure is in 1860s dollars. Carson City had its own mint where silver dollars were turned out. In 1985, Idaho's Coeur d'Alene mining district mines produced their one billionth ounce of silver, making this the richest proven silver mining district in the world, even today.
Jewelers and silversmiths can buy pure silver in ingots or strips and make nice 925 silver rings from it. Because silver is so soft they mix it with other metals, usually copper, to help maintain the shape they give it. Even after this hardening silver can be molded by hand, cut, or poured into prepared molds. It is generally believed that hand molded or hand cut silver jewelry is more valuable than mass produced jewelry, but this isn't always the case, especially if only a specific number of copies have been made. Then there is a form of silver jewelry made where artisans work over poured forms to produce unique items. Silver jewelry can also be made unique (and valuable) by incorporating various gemstones into various settings.
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