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<blockquote data-quote="Baron Opal II" data-source="post: 7906811" data-attributes="member: 6794067">In modern terms-Phosphor bronze is your typical Cu / Sn alloy. There's a smidgen of phosphorus to increase wear resistance.Bismuth bronze swaps out some tin for bismuth. This makes it more workable, and can take an exceptional polish. Excellent for mirrors. The Incas new how to work it, some examples were found in Peru. Leaded bronze is similar, I think.Nickel-Silver is a Cu / Ni bronze with up to 30% nickel. Very corrosion resistant, and silvery. I would like to say this showed up in Germany / Alpine region, but I may be misremembering that as there are a lot of nickel deposits there. This was also known to the Chinese.Arsenical bronze can be silvery like Nickel-Silver, takes work hardening better and doesn't get as brittle as phosphor bronze. It is also the only naturally occurring, mineable bronze. Oldest examples are from the Caucuses, I think?Corinthian bronze was the best bronze, but if it existed none has survived to modern times. This may have been an alloy of Cu, Au, Sb, Sn. Hepatizon also was known Hellenistically, but I don't think we have samples of that either.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Baron Opal II, post: 7906811, member: 6794067"] In modern terms- Phosphor bronze is your typical Cu / Sn alloy. There's a smidgen of phosphorus to increase wear resistance. Bismuth bronze swaps out some tin for bismuth. This makes it more workable, and can take an exceptional polish. Excellent for mirrors. The Incas new how to work it, some examples were found in Peru. Leaded bronze is similar, I think. Nickel-Silver is a Cu / Ni bronze with up to 30% nickel. Very corrosion resistant, and silvery. I would like to say this showed up in Germany / Alpine region, but I may be misremembering that as there are a lot of nickel deposits there. This was also known to the Chinese. Arsenical bronze can be silvery like Nickel-Silver, takes work hardening better and doesn't get as brittle as phosphor bronze. It is also the only naturally occurring, mineable bronze. Oldest examples are from the Caucuses, I think? Corinthian bronze was the best bronze, but if it existed none has survived to modern times. This may have been an alloy of Cu, Au, Sb, Sn. Hepatizon also was known Hellenistically, but I don't think we have samples of that either. [/QUOTE]

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