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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SoaringEagle, post: 1101652, member: 27768&quot;]According to academia of today, silver was the 3rd metal discovered in aprox 4000 BC. Since silver is able to be found in its native state, it is safe to say that &quot;pure&quot; silver has been used since then. Was their &quot;pure&quot; silver .999? With the amount used I would bet that at least one item fashioned from silver found in its native state was that pure. But we are just splitting hairs. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Since mercury was in common use by 750 BC for amalgamations I would hypothesis that silver in a purity of 3 9&#039;s has been around and used for 2500 years at least.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sources</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cramb/Processing/history.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cramb/Processing/history.html" rel="nofollow">http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cramb/Processing/history.html</a></p><p><a href="http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115ch6.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115ch6.html" rel="nofollow">http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115ch6.html</a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupellation" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupellation" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupellation</a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metals_of_antiquity" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metals_of_antiquity" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metals_of_antiquity</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Now back to the OP&#039;s question <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> I do not know the first time that .999 was used as a term as it is applied to coinage.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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