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electrum

Translation
electrum
/i lek"treuhm/, n.
1. an amber-colored alloy of gold and silver used in ancient times.
2. an alloy composed of about 50 percent copper, 30 percent nickel, and 20 percent zinc.
3. German silver; nickel silver.
[1350-1400; ME < L < Gk élektron amber, alloy of gold and silver]

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Natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20% silver, used to make the first known coins in the Western world.

Most natural electrum also contains copper, iron, palladium, bismuth, and perhaps other metals. The colour varies from white-gold to brassy, depending on the percentages of the major constituents and copper. The first Western coinage, possibly begun by King Gyges of Lydia (7th century BC), consisted of irregular ingots of electrum bearing his stamp as a guarantee of negotiability at a predetermined value. See also coinage.

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▪ alloy
      natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20 percent silver, which was used to make the first known coins (coin) in the Western world. Most natural electrum contains copper, iron, palladium, bismuth, and perhaps other metals. The colour varies from white-gold to brassy, depending on the percentages of the major constituents and copper. In the ancient world the chief source was Lydia, in Asia Minor, where the alloy was found in the area of the Pactolus River, a small tributary of the Hermus (modern Gediz Nehri, in Turkey). The first Occidental coinage, possibly begun by King Gyges (7th century BC) of Lydia, consisted of irregular ingots of electrum bearing his stamp as a guarantee of negotiability at a predetermined value.

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Universalium. 2010.

  
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