[Osmf-talk] Chairperson's Report for the AGM

[Oleksiy Muzalyev]

On 10.12.16 12:00, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote:
>
> 2016-12-10 9:09 GMT+01:00 Oleksiy Muzalyev 
> <oleksiy.muzalyev at bluewin.ch <mailto:oleksiy.muzalyev at bluewin.ch>>:
>
>     I would also suggest to issue ten years membership card in pure
>     silver with a name of a member. There are companies which produce
>     such metal membership cards [2]. The current price of Sterling
>     Silver is $14.18 per Ounce (oz), or $0.5 Per Gram (g). Sterling
>     silver is defined as 92.5% pure silver (that is why there is a
>     tiny stamp "925").
>
>     One membership card from pure silver weighs 24 grams [3]. It means
>     the price of the precious metal itself for one card is only $
>     12.00. On this particular website a silver membership card costs
>     really a lot, because it is plated with white gold and rodium.
>     Such a plating is not necessary in our case.
>
>
>
> I had a look into Osmium, unfortunately it is very, very expensive ;-) 
> 30gr are around 22000 EUR.
>
> Depleted uranium on the other hand is very cheap but impressively 
> dense, almost twice the density of lead, imagine how breathtaking it 
> would be to issue hand engraved uranium membership cards, given the 
> same size I'm sure they would feel incredibly heavy and precious. They 
> could be delivered molten into a glass capsule in a nice lead 
> containment, and could be passed on from generation to generation, 
> surely a glimpse on eternity (given a half-life of 4.5 billion years). 
> I haven't yet received the detailed prices for materials and 
> production but at this point I am still confident it would be 
> competible to your solution, and hardly beatable in uniqueness.
>
> Just some food for thought ;-)
>
> On an even more serious sidetrack: if we were to make "special" 
> membership cards, what about a hologram with some map stuff? Those 
> silver plates tend to oxidise ;-)
> And why limit them to 10 years?
>
> Cheers,
> Martin

Dear Martin,

Osmium, let alone Uranium, are extremely toxic. But silver is used even 
in healthcare. It does not oxidize much. I just made a photo of a 
memorial medal with the maps of Düsseldorf and Odessa 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwIBJzM0u50qX3JhUTNVRGlTRmc . This 
medal, including engraved maps, is made from pure silver. I did not 
touch it for several years, and it is possible to see on the photo that 
it did not oxidize much. There is something about silver what makes it 
precious by look and feel, and it has been so for millenniums.

I think the membership card should be of the usual card format: 85.5mm x 
54.0mm (3.3″ x 2.1″), thickness (approx): 0.45mm. In my opinion, any 
plastic including a hologram, would just cheapen a pure silver card. But 
I may err, - a lot depends on a design, on the silversmith; perhaps a 
hologram may be included indeed.

I would not call it "special" cards, but rather just ten years 
membership card. It would be obviously too difficult to pay for, issue, 
and distribute such a card each year.

With best regards,

Oleksiy


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