The Tribal Tales

5.1
Silver
Silver is a brilliant white shining metal and is found in nature in both native and combined forms: in flakes, forms like wire, and in massed forms, one such
find having weighed 1500 pounds. The native form is not frequent, but when it is discovered it is between 900-980 out of 1000 parts fine. Today, for the most
part silver is a by-product in the refinement of gold, lead, copper, or zinc ores, with which it is mostly frequently associated in nature. It is recovered from
these metals in the refining process. It is also extracted from ores by direct smelting, amalgamation, cyanidation, and other hydrometallurgical processes.
A primitive method of refining gold or silver, called cupellation, was to place the ore in a cupel, or small, shallow, porous cup made of bone ash, and then
expose the cup to a high temperature and air blast. The base metals oxidized and sank into the porous cupel, and the precious metals could be poured off.
India has always had a fascination for items such as jewellery, urns, and figures of deities in silver is manifest in palaces, museums, private collections and
even in ordinary Indian homes. In India, it perhaps surpasses gold in popularity because of its greater affordability. In fact, most goldsmiths in India craft a
variety of silver ornaments, silverware, religious and decorative figures and utility objects.
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5.1
(Fig 5.1)
A collection of old silver
jewellery pieces.