On the origin of the copper used for the Statue of Liberty.

01 January 1986

New Image

Historical records make no mention of the source of the copper used in the construction of the Statue of Liberty, although a local tradition suggests that the copper came from the French- owned Visnes Mine near Bergen, Norway. Records show that ore from this mine, refined in France and Belgium, was a significant source of European copper in the late nineteenth century. To investigate further the origin of the statue copper, we have analyzed samples of copper from the Visnes Mine and from the Statue of Liberty by emission spectrography. A comparison of the presence and concentrations of metallic impurities show the two samples to be very similar, and a review of historical and geographical information on possible suppliers of the copper suggests that the Visnes mine is a very likely source. We conclude that it is highly probable that copper from the Visnes Mine was used for the Statue of Liberty.