Open AccessAbout the composition and processing of precious metals from the Serbian medieval mines
Author(s) -
Desanka Kovacevic-Kojic
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
zbornik radova vizantološkog instituta/zbornik radova vizantološkog instituta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-0917
pISSN - 0584-9888
DOI - 10.2298/zrvi1350853k
Subject(s) - serbian , copper , composition (language) , precious metal , receipt , art , metallurgy , archaeology , mineralogy , geology , history , materials science , literature , metal , philosophy , accounting , economics , linguistics
Account Books of the Caboga (Kabužić) Brothers 1426-1433 (Squarço - Reminder, Diary and Ledger) from the Historical Archive of Dubrovnik provide new evidence about the high degree of treatment and composition of precious metals from the Serbian medieval mines. First of all, that the residue, after the purification of unprocessed into fine silver, was copper. Even the price of this process is listed. In the Squarço, in two items in a receipt from 1430, there is previously unknown data about auriferous silver (argento di glama), the composition of which, besides gold, also included copper, and the precisely determined shares of these metals per litre. Apart from the Account Books of the Caboga (Kabužić) Brothers, other written sources and hitherto geological explorations have provided no clues regarding the presence of copper in the auriferous silver mines