3000 BCE, east Mediterranean. A slave digs a silver nugget out of the ground at an Anatolian mine, launching it on a journey through the ages to the present day. Criss-crossing the globe, travelling into space and plunging to the seabed, it features in the stories of numerous well-known historical figures, including Alexander the Great, Judas Iscariot, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Ferdinand Magellan and Adolf Hitler, to name just a few. Argentum is a light-hearted canter through the last 5,000 years, weaving the fictional adventures of the silver piece into the factual backdrop of major events in world history, and revealing on its way the extraordinary adaptability of element 47. So where is it now?