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Electrum, a pure alloy of silver and gold, was typically used for making coins. Shown is the Roman god Apollo, and on the obverse, a Delphi tripod (circa 310–305 BCE).

The first description of a process for isolating antimony is in the 1540 e-book De la pirotechnia by Vannoccio Biringuccio. Bismuth was described by Agricola in De Natura Fossilium (c. 1546); it had been confused in early instances with tin and lead because of its resemblance to these elements.

Arsenic, zinc, antimony, and bismuth grew to become known, although these have been at first referred to as semimetals or bastard metals on account of their immalleability. All 4 might have been used by the way in earlier instances without recognising their nature. Albertus Magnus is believed to have been the first to isolate arsenic from a compound in 1250, by heating soap along with arsenic trisulfide. Metallic zinc, which is … Read More