>> Vaguely related question:    Napoleon's dinnerset for his
>> top guests was made of gold. His personal dinnerset was 
>> made
>> of a metal more precious. Not anything like Platinum,
>> Silver, Rhodium, Palladium etc. Something that nowadays
>> would be a non starter. What was it made of?

> Aluminum?

Yes.
Very rare and valuable stuff.
Nice finish.
Reasonably corrosion resistant with exceptions.
Exceedingly hard to extract.
Even now it's a specialist art - because it's a large and 
industrial one we don't see how much magic there is in 
getting it right.



        Russell 

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