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Recent theory has predicted a superlens that is capable of producing sub-diffraction-limited images. This superlens would allow the recovery of evanescent waves in an image via the excitation of surface plasmons. Using silver as a natural optical superlens, we demonstrated sub-diffraction-limited imaging with 60-nanometer half-pitch resolution, or one-sixth of the illumination wavelength. By proper design of the working wavelength and the thickness of silver that allows access to a broad spectrum of subwavelength features, we also showed that arbitrary nanostructures can be imaged with good fidelity. The optical superlens promises exciting avenues to nanoscale optical imaging and ultrasmall optoelectronic devices.

A recent reanalysis of compositional and lead isotope legacy data from the early silver hoards of the southern Levant (ca. twelfth–ninth centuries BCE) identified that not only was most of this hacksilver mixed but that it probably derived from the Pyritic belt of southern Iberia, the Taurus mountains in Anatolia, and a third unknown source. We propose that the unknown component of Tel Dor's hacksilver was silver potentially derived from ores mined at Kalavasos on Cyprus. The presence of Cypriot silver in the southern Levant complements finds of Phoenician pottery on Cyprus, supporting that there was continuity of trade from the end of the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Iron Age between Cyprus and the Levant. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the technology required to smelt and cupellate argentiferous jarosite ores was first practiced on Cyprus prior to risky and costly ventures to Iberia.

Este trabajo se centra en el estudio biográfico y profesional de los plateros barceloneses Domingo Galtés Gabarro y su hijo Fortunato Galtés Ribera. Del primero se conocían algunas obras y su marca personal, pero se ignoraba su segundo apellido y la fecha de su muerte; además se incorpora por primera vez una docena de obras a su catálogo. Del segundo no se tenía información alguna hasta ahora, en que damos a conocer su existencia, actividad artística y marca personal.

Burmese master silversmiths produced a magnificent body of work from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries - the Burmese Silver Age. This aesthetic and functional work is characterized by a unique decorative style and superb technical artistry. Many of the artefacts are embellished with mysterious visual narratives drawn from ancient religious and mythological sources, communicating spiritual beliefs and values that resonate to this day. Burmese silverwork is a distinct and little-known genre of silver art. This book tackles this obscurity by illuminating and describing for the first time 100 Burmese silver artefacts in a stunning photographic gallery. This silverwork - from the Noble Silver Collection - represents some of the rarest and finest quality work from the Burmese Silver Age. The centrepiece gallery of silverwork masterpieces is bookended by two well-illustrated and informative chapters that provide readers with deeper insights into Burmese silverwork: a robust frame of reference chapter summarises the 2,000-year history and cultural tradition of Burmese silverwork; and a chapter following the gallery deciphers the complex and allegorical iconography of the decoration, which gives the reader a deeper appreciation of its religious and cultural meaning and origin. This book captures the great, almost mystical, allure of Burmese silverwork - from the sublime artistry of the decoration, to the extraordinary skill of the silversmith and the profound meaning and importance of the visual narratives. In doing so, Burmese Silver Art takes its place as a definitive reference work for any art historian, collector, expert, student, or general reader interested in this hitherto-overlooked body of noble art.

A Hellenistic tomb attributed to the Thracian ruler Seuthes III yielded two silver vessels inscribed with the name of their owner and their weights in monetary units. I argue that the vessels belonged to the treasury of Seuthes III. The inscriptions, which indicate that the vessels were weighed against coins on the Alexandrian/Attic standard, were inscribed when the vessels were acquired, or as part of later audits of the treasury. Compared to the inscriptions on silver plate from the treasuries of earlier Odrysian kings, these are rather practical and devoid of political message. This difference is the result of the political changes in Thrace that followed the Macedonian expansion.

Benton Seymour Rabinovitch was one of the pioneers of chemical dynamics. His brilliant experiments performed during his four decades as a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle provided most of our early quantitative measurements of the efficiency with which energy is transferred between molecules in gas-phase molecule–molecule collisions and in collisions of molecules with solid surfaces. More importantly, his work provided quantitative estimates of the rates with which vibrational energy deposited locally within a molecule is redistributed among the many vibrational modes within that molecule, proving that the equilibration of this vibrational energy among these modes almost always occurs in approximately one picosecond. He further showed that this validates (in most cases) the assumptions of Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) theory. He also developed several widely used mathematical shortcuts for using RRKM theory to make important predictions about physical chemistry. These shortcuts greatly increased both the applications and impact of RRKM theory, so that it has become one of the most important theories of physical chemistry. It continues to guide much of our fundamental understanding of chemical dynamics and reaction kinetics even today. In addition to being a great scientist, Seymour Rabinovitch was a devoted husband and father. He raised four accomplished children, and later in life became an expert in the art of silversmithing, a writer of children's books, and a philanthropist. His offspring are following beautifully in his footsteps in their kindness to fellow human beings, their excellence in scholarship, science and art, and in their energetic dedication to improving the world through teaching, research, service and philanthropy. The same can be said for his academic offspring as well.

Nathaniel Pryor arrived in California in 1828 as a fur-trapper. He was jailed temporarily in San Diego, experienced the kindness ofCalifornios, and found employment as a silversmith in southern California missions. He settled in Los Angeles, where he resided for over twenty years until his death in 1850. His friend Stephen C. Foster recounted Pryor’s story in 1887.

A hoard of objects found at the early Roman colony at Colchester in a small hole scraped into the floor of a house destroyed during the Boudican revolt includes a group of high-quality gold jewellery, three silver military awards, a bag of coins, an unusual silver-clad wooden box and other items. Buried in haste as the British approached, they provide a remarkably clear image of one couple's background, achievements, taste and social standing. A bulla shows that the man was a Roman citizen, the awards that he was a veteran soldier of some distinction, while parallels for the woman's jewellery suggest that it was acquired in Italy.