Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag (Latin: argentum) and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal.

Silver has long been valued as a precious metal, and it is used to make ornaments, jewelry, high-value tableware, utensils, and currency coins. Today, silver metal is also used in electrical contacts and conductors, in mirrors and in catalysis of chemical reactions.

Given its value throughout human history, silver has played a role in many Harry Turtledove works. This article deals only with those instances where silver was a critical plot-point.

Silver in "Vilcabamba"
Silver was among the metals the Krolp prized. Fifty years after their first arrival, the Krolp discovered a deposit of silver (and some gold) deep below the surface of northeastern Utah within the territory of the rump United States. Despite a treaty recognizing the sovereignty of the U.S., the Krolp demanded access to the silver. U.S. President Harrison Moffatt III realized that the Krolp's mining efforts would probably leave what was left of his country uninhabitable, and staged a desperate, doomed uprising. In the end, the Krolp got their silver.