Ironically, aluminum used to be more valuable than gold, because it was almost impossible to process. The Emperor Napoleon had a set of aluminum (gasp!) tableware, IIRC.
Then the Bessemer process was invented, and aluminum became commonplace.
The very top pyramid cap piece on the Washington Monument was manufactured from that extremely valuable (worth more than gold, at the time) metal, aluminum.
Interesting. One of the nicest reasons to be a freeper... lots of people know such cool little facts about the world. Thanks for sharing.
“Then the Bessemer process was invented, and aluminum became commonplace.”
Bessemer is for steel, you may be thinking of the Bayer process.