Understanding the copper of the Statue of Liberty

Abstract

Pierre-Eugene Secretan, a French copper industrialist, donated the copper sheets for the construction of the skin of the Statue of Liberty when it was built in 1875–1876. It can be inferred from the history of Secretan's activities that the sheets were rolled in his plant of Serifontaine. The impurities found in two samples obtained from the U.S. National Park Service show that different qualities of copper were used. They indicate, by taking also into account the commercial relations of Secretan, that the copper may possibly have come from Spanish or South/North American ore.