Platinum Folly: Discarding the World's Most Valuable Metal: Ignorance, Counterfeiting, and the Luxury Standard in the Spanish Empire, 1735-1820

When Spanish conquistadors first encountered a strange, unyielding white metal in the rivers of South America, they considered it an infuriating impurity. They named it "platina"—little silver—and ordered it thrown back into the water so it could "ripen" into gold.

Behind this historical footnote lies a fascinating tale of ignorance, counterfeiting, and eventual redemption. Because platinum was heavy and cheap, counterfeiters soon began using it to adulterate gold coins, forcing the Spanish ...