The copper for the Statue of Liberty was generously donated by Pierre-Eugène Secrétan, a French copper merchant, art collecter, and financial con artist. In the 1870s, Secrétan donated 60,000 kilos of copper for artist Auguste Bartoldi to create the Statue of Liberty. At the time, the price of copper was the lowest in recent memory, and Secrétan blamed the plentiful American mines. Almost a decade later, Secrétan devised a scheme to take control of all the copper in the world—and selling it for whatever price he wanted. Starting in late 1886, he used his connections with European banks to secure loans for all the copper produced by British, American, Swedish and Spanish mining companies. By October 1887, the price of copper had more than doubled. Secrétan’s only problem was that no one wanted to buy copper at the inflated price. Businesses turned to recycling, and new companies popped up in the United States, Mexico, and Chile. When Secrétan tried to buy those, too, the banks denied his now gratuitous loan requests. The price of copper collapsed in March 1889 and nearly brought down the entire French banking system with it. Secrétan went to prison for falsifying balance sheets and attempting to form a monopoly. He was forced to pay investors from his own pocket. Secrétan sold his prized art collection to cover the bill, so much of his former collection can be viewed in American museums today. (Image: a model of the Statue of Liberty’s face) #statueoflibertymuseum #statueofliberty #findyourpark