Ercker Collection

Preparation of copper and silver to be alloyed for production of coins, 1683. Copper is melted (1) while an apprentice (9) soaks birch twigs in water

Crystallization of saltpetre (nitre, potassium nitrate, or KN03), 1683. Saltpetre is the principal ingredient in gunpowder, and is still used in the preservation of some foods

Checking the quality of saltpetre (nitre, potassium nitrate, or KN03), 1683. Saltpetre is the principal ingredient in gunpowder, and is still used in the preservation of some foods

Laboratory for refining gold and silver, showing typical laboratory equipment, 1683. 1) Athanor or Slow Harry, a self-feeding furnace maintaining a constant temperature

Production of saltpetre (nitre, potassium nitrate, or KN03), 1683. Nitre beds, heaps of manure mixed with chalky earth. These were watered with urine and manure water

Distillation of Nitric Acid, 1683. Also known as Aqua Fortis or Parting Acid, nitric acid was widely used in the refining and assaying of metals

Athanor or Slow Harry, a self-feeding furnace maintaining a constant temperature, 1683. Centre: 1) Athanor or Slow Harry ; 2) side chambers containing reagents; 3) glass receivers

Furnace for processes where protracted heat required, such as cementation, 1580
Furnace for processes where protracted heat required, such as cementation, 1683. This furnace is gravity-fed and self-stoking

Washing ore to extract gold, 1683. Water is fed into a sieve containing crushed ore. The solution containing ore in suspension is fed along collecting pans, often lined with dark woollen cloth

Assayer testing samples of gold or silver using a balance, 1683. Artist: Lazarus Ercker
Assayer testing samples of gold or silver using a balance, 1683. From English edition of Lazarus Ercker Allerfurnemisten mineralischen Ertzt und Berckwercksarten, originally published in Prague, 1574

Smelting of copper, 1683
Smelting of copper: making liquation cakes by reducing copper in furnaces and alloying with lead, 1683. From an English edition of German metallurgist Lazarus Erckers Beschreibung allerfurnemisten

Assayer testing samples of gold and silver, 1683. Copperplate engraving from the 1683 English edition of Beschreibung Allerfurnemisten Mineralischen Ertzt (Treatise on Ores and Asssaying)

Refining copper using the Hungarian process, 1683. Copperplate engraving showing cupellation cakes being roasted, releasing lead. The lead obtained is smelted at top left

Blast furnaces, 1683. Illustration from the 1683 English edition of Beschreibung Allerfurnemisten Mineralischen Ertzt (Treatise on Ores and Asssaying), by Lazarus Ercker, published in 1580

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