Barium Barium Barium is a chemical element with symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Its hydroxide, known in pre-modern times as baryta, does not occur as a mineral, but can be prepared by heating barium carbonate. The most common naturally occurring minerals of barium are barite (now called baryte) (barium sulfate, BaSO) and witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO), both insoluble in water. The name "barium" originates from the alchemical derivative
Stieff Silver years around the start of the 20th century, before starting a silver business of his own. The complete history of The Schofield Company can be found on the website. Schofield was also known as Herr-Schofield from 1905-1927. The factory was again expanded; doubled in size in 1971 to allow for the booming pewter manufacturing business. Pewter became the major business of Stieff as sales of Sterling Silver waned since the 1960s. Sterling Silver hollow ware was made at Stieff until 1999, but pewter became the star of the company in the 1970s and 1980s. Stieff was the official maker of