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Only as a side note/curiosity, possibly one of the most valued sets of cutlery Napoleon III owned was an aluminium one: https://history.stackexchange.com/quest
by jaclaz 5y ago
Only as a side note/curiosity, possibly one of the most valued sets of cutlery Napoleon III owned was an aluminium one:
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/51115/did-napoleon-iii-reserve-a-special-set-of-aluminum-cutlery-for-special-guests https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/51115/did-napole...
Anyway until the late second half of the 1800's, it was considered as valuable as gold, if not more (article in French):
https://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/560 https://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/560
- selectodude 5y agoUntil exceptionally abundant electricity and the Hall-Heroult process, a french guy whose name I forgot discovered you could burn bauxite under a vacuum with elemental sodium. Which meant it was like a twenty step process that burned off other really expensive difficult materials to make. Wild stuff.
- FourHand451 5y agoIn the same vein, the Washington Monument is topped with an aluminum pyramid. This material was selected because at the time of construction aluminum was still considered nifty and new. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument#Aluminum_apex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument#Aluminum_a...