Page 37 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

Assay systems are an effective method to ensure consistency of silver quality of
manufactured items. British silverwares, for example, have remained at or near the
Sterling standard of 92.5% for several centuries. American silver, which was not governed
by such a system, although hovering at an average of around 90% purity, was actually
known to have varied over quite a wide range. Yet in China, which also had no regulatory
system, an average purity of 90.5% was achieved over the entire 155 year manufacturing
period of the Chinese Export Silver era. This is hardly surprising given the raw material
sources were either ingots from high-quality mined silver or silver trade dollars of known
provenance.

Conclusion:

Despite the absence of an assay system and any form of state-imposed regulation, for
over 500 years, Chinese silver and silverwares maintained a remarkable consistency of
silver purity.

* “CHINESE EXPORT SILVER 1785-1940 - The Definitive Collectors’ Guide” by Adrien von Ferscht, [2015] - Tsinghua
University, Beijing; University of Glasgow.

** Planned research to be carried out at the Chinese Silver Research Institute [CSRI] at Tsinghua University, Beijing

REFERENCES:
Cipolla, Carlo M. (ed) The Fontana Economic History of Europe: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. London: Fontana. [1974]

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman emperor. The Columbia Encyclopaedia, Sixth Edition. [2001]

Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, Whaley
Gunter Böhm, Los Judios en Chile durante la Colonia [Santiago. 1948]
Letter written by the Inquisitors Francisco Verdugo and Andrés Juan Gayton, 4 May 1622. Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid
[Inquisición Libro 1038]
Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies, Volumes 1-4, [1909]

Krause, Chester L. and Mishler, Clifford: Standard Catalog of World Coins [1996]
Julian, R. W., The Rise and Fall of the Trade Dollar [2003]

Bertin, E. P., Principles and Practice of X-ray Spectrometric Analysis, Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers
Carlson, Janice H., X-ray Fluorescent Analysis of Chinese Export Silver, Winterthur Museum, Delaware, USA [1993]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

The Museum of Money, Moscow, Russia; Daniel Frank Sedgwick, LLC, Florida, USA; The Royal Mint Museum Library, London

http://chinese-export-silver.com Image Library Archive

THANKS: Chao Huang, Institute of Science & Technology and Cultural Heritage, University of Science and Technology, Beijing
China Center, Center for Cultural Studies on Science and Technology in China, Technische Universität Berlin