Judges 17:4 - "So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a graven image and a molten image; and it was in the house of Micah."

Acts 19:24 - "For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen."

Gold and copper probably were discovered before silver, but silver was known and valued by mankind before the time of recorded history. Slag deposits dating from 3000 B.C. have been found in Asia Minor and on islands in the Aegean Sea. A famous ancient silver district was located at Laurium, Greece, about 1000 B.C.

Silver was used by the ancients in making musical instruments, vessels, cups, idols, and so forth. It was also extensively used in the Tabernacle.

The work of the silversmith involved assembling and repairing all types of objects made of silver, as well as making new ones. Silver was heated by an intensive fire until it became softened for easy workability, and then, while squatting on the ground, the silversmith worked with pliers to shape the object; with saws and hammers to make the shapes and designs he wished.

Silver used to be extensively used in coinage, but today, although this use has declined, its value in the arts and in industry has soared. Motion pictures would not have been possible without silver, and silver solders are important in the aviation industry. Silver is used in the manufacture of photographic materials, in electronics, manufacture of chemicals and foodstuffs, and in laboratory equipment.

Compounds of silver are used in medicine, in glass manufacture, in plating of mirrors and metals, in pharmaceuticals, as chemical reagents, in the manufacture of mother-of-pearl, and in dentistry.

So, it is obvious, today’s worker with metal may have branched out considerably from the silverworker of biblical times, but we could hardly do without him.