Production of these works of the silversmithing art is at Silver World (Daesung Metal), in Seoul, South Korea. Here is their product page showing a variety of teapots in 99% silver. The simplest sells for 680,000 Korean won, or around US$ 520. Given the amount of labour involved, I’m surprised it isn’t more (the 153 grams of silver in the teapot has a value of US$ 125 at the current market price [US$ 25.48/troy ounce]).
I wonder if drinking this tea from these pots can give you argyria
It gives you the look of Hindu gods, maybe not coincidentally:
They’re beautiful. That said, given how easily silver tarnishes, are these actually used for anything other than display (boiling water for anything other than formal tea making)?
Wondered about heavy metal poisoning!
Silver isn’t very reactive, and silver has low toxicity compared to other heavy metals and, in fact, has antibacterial properties which are used in some medical devices. Silver has been used for prestige tableware for centuries.
Pure silver is approved for use as a food decoration by the European Union, designated E174.
Yes, and colloidal silver has been one of the early antibiotics that allowed invaders from the North survive the South Asian germs. Remember how it was disease that was the undoing of Alexander the Great’s campaign into South Asia.
Argyria is the side effect.
As an increasingly-clumsy seasoned citizen, nowadays I count myself lucky if I can butter a piece of toast without destroying it. Though my memory is also diminished, I do still remember being quite dexterous through most of my life. Seeing this fellow’s exquisite skill in literally tens of thousands of sequential operations, I am reminded of the temper I have acquired. He snips silver with more facility, more accurately, than I can cut paper. When I err - as I frequently do - I must often stifle impulses to throw things (including sharp objects and expensive ones, like iPhones and computers). I blame this on cartoons I watched during my childhood: the Toonerville Trolley, featuring the “terrible-tempered Mr. Bang”. I have become he incarnate. Such is my second childhood. Diapers await in the wings, I fear.