A type of German silver or nickel-silver alloy that resembles sterling silver in appearance but contains no actual silver.
From Latin 'argentum' (silver) + the suffix '-an'. The term emerged in the 19th century when this affordable alloy was developed as a silver substitute in Europe.
Argentan is a brilliant example of how humans solve practical problems—when real silver became too expensive, chemists engineered a perfectly good fake that fooled the eye and could do the job.
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