Don't forget, up till 1886, when, with the availability of cheap electric power, they invented the electrical processing of alumina into aluminium, it was a rare and precious metal and only used for decorative embellishments like this Knife & scabbard.
Aluminium did exist and was used much earlier than y'all think. I hear a cutler made a dinner setting for a King about 1825 with aluminium handles.
Aluminium was certainly available and used in the late 19c., and readily available pre WW1 for structural military use - when they used it to build airships - Zeppelins - to bomb London. Duralumin alloy used in airships was invented in Germany in 1909 and was a state secret for a while. But that's another story.
Use of easily salvaged aluminium from WW2 aircraft wrecks, of course, expanded greatly during/after WW2 in the far east.
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