Quartz var. Jasper

specimen number:
1052849

location:
Idar-Oberstein, Birkenfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

description:

A polished sample of Jasper. This is a 19th century example from the collection of Wilhelm Hoyer and comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video.

The Idar-Oberstein region of Germany is situated in the Nahe River valley, which features extensive Permian-aged volcanic rock formations dating back roughly 280 million years. As these thick basaltic and andesitic lavas cooled, trapped gases formed cavities that mineral-rich hydrothermal solutions later filled with deposits of agate, jasper, amethyst, and chalcedony. Historically, the local discovery of these abundant gemstone deposits during the late Middle Ages led to the establishment of a specialized gemstone cutting and carving industry by the fourteenth century. Although local mining of these resources was largely depleted by the nineteenth century, the established craftsmanship persisted as local merchants began importing raw agate and minerals from South America to sustain the region's prominent cutting mills and lapidary trade.

Wilhelm Hoyer (1849-1913) was a German civil engineer and mineral collector based in Hanover who utilized his professional work in railway construction and geological surveys to assemble a significant mineralogical and paleontological collection. Active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Hoyer specialized in documenting and collecting from the Mesozoic formations of northwestern Germany, preserving regional specimens from active quarries and construction sites. His systematic approach to labeling and documenting specimens provided important historical provenance, and following his death, his comprehensive collection was integrated into major academic repositories, including the University of Gottingen and the Prussian Geological Survey in Berlin.

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