Silver was first used during the Bronze Age, and mainly for making jewellery. Silver was found all over Europe and West Asia so people had ready access to it.

The only problem was that the silver ore (rocks that had silver deposits in them) were also full of lead. Hence, lead and silver had to be mined together.

Unfortunately, unlike silver, lead is very poisonous. Therefore, many slaves miners who were involved in mining lead and silver died within about 3 years.

Besides being mixed with lead, silver is also found in gold and copper deposits. In all cases, silver is found as an alloy (which means that it is mixed with other metals).

“Ag” which stands for the Latin term of silver, argentums symbolizes the chemical element of Silver.

One of the earliest deposits of silver that were found in the world was in Athens, near Greece in 500 BC. This deposit helped Athens build its first navy and become rich and powerful.

As a type of metal, silver is soft, shiny, and like copper it conducts electricity very well. Since it is a precious metal, it has been used mainly for making jewellery, but also arts and utensils.

In the modern day, silver is used for photography, to make mirrors, jewellery, in various electronic gadgets, and even in dentistry.

A great quality about silver is that it kills bacteria, and for some reason, even though many bacteria can fight the effects of some medications, it cannot fight silver.

It is perhaps because of this, that silver, in various forms is used for medical purposes, including in dentistry.

The common saying, “born with a silver spoon in the mouth” is directly related to the health benefits of eating from silver spoons, because in the olden days children fed from silver spoons were believed to be healthier.

The words “silver” and “money” are the same in fourteen languages around the world. This perhaps proves just how valuable this metal is.

Since it conducts heat really well, probably the best of all the metals, it is used in solar panels, and the rear windows of vehicles (used to defog).

Even though today, we consider Gold the most precious metal, the ancient Egyptians believed silver was more precious than even gold.