ilver, like gold, has been used for jewellery, coins and fine household goods since the earliest days. The Romans already moved whole mountains in Spain to mine the coveted metal, but its use and appreciation unites all cultures of the world.
Today, silver is somewhat overshadowed by gold. But its bright and warm shine made the metal the preferred companion of diamonds for a long time. Neoclassicism and the Belle Époque, for example, loved jewellery with rich diamonds but restrained colours, so silver was always used to set the fiery stones.
Silver was replaced in this function by platinum in the late 19th century and after the First World War by the newly discovered white gold. But as silver disappeared from use in diamond jewellery, it was rediscovered by other artists. The British Arts and Crafts movement, as well as the German Jugendstil, not only appreciated the warm colour and the possibility of patinating the metal. The lower value of the material also gave their jewellery a social-reform aspiration, as it was intended to be affordable for a broad section of the population.
