A Rare and Costly Metal.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 5082, 18 September 1891, Page 1

A Rare and Costly Metal.

Didymium, says Iron, is the rarest metal in the world, and its present market price, if one may thus term the quotation of an article that never appears on the market, is L9OO per lb. The next costliest metal is barium, an element belonging to the alkaline earth group, its value is L 750. Beryllium, or glucinum, a metallic substance found in the beautiful beryl, is quoted at L 675. Yttrium, a rare metal of the boron-aluminium group, so called because first noticed at Ytterby, in Sweden, is stated to be worth at present L 450 per lb. Niobium, or columbium, a name suggestive of the American origin of the metal, it having been first discovered in Connecticut, is valued to-day at L4OO per lb. The price of rhodium, an extremely hard and brittle substance, which owes its name to the rose-red color of certain of its solutions, is also L4OO. Vanadium, at one time considered the rarest of metallic elements, has been reduced in price to L 375, at which value there will no doubt be many eager buyers. Iridium, a very heavy metal of the platinum group, so named from the iridescence of some of its solutions, and well known in connection with its use for the points of gold pens, may be bought to-day at approximately Ll4O per lb. The present price of platinum, the better known tin-white, ductile, but very infusible metal is on a par with that of gold—viz., about L7O per lb ; but generally its value fluctuates between its more popular brothers, gold and silver.