Unearthing facts from the not-so-humble beginnings of aluminum and copper.

* Although aluminum is the most abundant metallic element in Earth's crust, it is very rare in its free form and was once considered a precious metal more valuable than gold. Napolean III of France is said to have had a set of aluminum plates reserved for his finest guests, while other guests had to make do with gold ones.

* When aluminum was chosen as the material for the apex of the Washington Monument (dedicated in 1885), an ounce of the metal cost twice the daily wages of an average worker on the project.

* When aluminum first entered commercial production, much discussion was held on its proper name. Aluminum was one suggestion, but many in the scientific world preferred aluminium. The U.S. adopted the -ium spelling for most of the 19th century; however, in 1892 Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new, efficient, electrolytic method for the production of aluminum. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America, even though the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913 continued to use the -ium version. In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications, and American dictionaries typically offer the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

* The statue known as Eros in Piccadilly Circus London, made in 1893, is one of the first statues to be cast in aluminum.

* Mankind has been using copper, lead and tin for thousands of years; aluminum has been produced commercially for less than 150 years. Still, more aluminum is produced today than all other nonferrous materials combined.

* Typical ancient copper ingots were shaped in the form of an animal skin, such as the one from Zakros, Crete, shown on this page.