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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 1101820, member: 27832&quot;]I&#039;ve been Googling around for half an hour or so, and I&#039;m still having some trouble turning up hard numbers. But SoaringEagle&#039;s second link includes this final paragraph:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>For cupellation, which I believe was about the best process available until the Renaissance, it looks like the limit of purity was somewhere around 98-99%. Repeating the process would just transfer more and more silver into the slag; the silver left behind wouldn&#039;t be any more pure.</p><p><br /></p><p>To get to 99.9% or better, it looks like you need chlorine-based or electrolytic techniques, both of which are exclusively modern (post-1800). Yes, you could travel back in time with modern knowledge and cobble together a system to do better. No, there is no record of anyone doing so. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Now, here&#039;s an item stamped &quot;999/1000&quot; and claimed to be from the &quot;mid-1800s&quot;:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=357592.0" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=357592.0" rel="nofollow">.999 Fine Silver Perfume Bottle. Very Cool Mid 1800&#039;s</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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