Portrait of Akinfiy Demidov

People/magnate

Akinfiy Demidov

Akinfiy Demidov (1678–1745), magnate, from Russia. Linked to gold, silver, copper.

The lucky break

Increased the inherited family wealth by discovering and working gold, silver and copper mines.1,2,3

Legacy

The 1911 Britannica gives his death as about 1740 and Wikidata as 1745. Later Demidovs funded science and the arts.1,2,3

Story cards

Where next

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed.: Demidov Wikisource (public domain source text)
  2. Wikidata item Q418544
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons

Pictures on this page: Portrait of Akinfiy Nikitich Demidov 1745.jpg, Unknown author (CC BY-SA 4.0); Nikita Demidov.jpg, Unknown author (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Escondida Mine, Chile, NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Timna in de Negevwoestijn; rotspartij "de zuilen van Salomo", Poll, Willem van de / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).