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Hi Everyone,
I thought I would share something you cinnebar fans might find interesting.
Yesterday I visited the New Almaden history museum just south of San Jose, site of the oldest cinnebar mines in California. In the 1840s, Mexican racheros noticed native people using cinnebar as a coloring for walls and asked where they found it. Taken to the hills just south of San Jose, there they were shown the place were it was found in abundance. They called it New Almaden after Alamden, Spain, the site of earlier cinnebar mines. First Mexicans, mainly using the labor of Native Americans, then the Anglo-Americans mined cinnebar there until the 1930s. Cinnebar was processed to extract the mercury inside which was then sent to the gold mines and gold fields and used in the processing of gold. The rock is very heavy because of the mercury within it. An unbelievable amount of wealth was extracted there, something like 200 billion dollars in today's currency.
But not all of the "quicksilver" was used for mercury; a good deal of it was traded to China where is was used to make the carved cinnebar objects we know and love. The Chinese Emperor, in gratitude for this new, abundant source of cinnebar that was closer than Spain, sent an elaborate Chinese style pagoda pavillion as a gift. Unfortunately it fell down in a storm years ago and is only now in the process of being re-erected sometime soon. The museum included a display showing the process of cinnebar carving. According to the museum guide, red cinnebar isn't minned in China and was originally imported there from Spain. (Someone correct me if that's wrong.)
The 1856 "Casa Grande" building was one of the nicest in California at the time and survives, having been turned into a museum in the 1980s (currently closed due to ventillation issues). The mines in the steep hills above are now open for hiking as an historical park. There was a Chinse compound, English village, and a Spanish speaking village.
If you're ever in the San Jose area and are looking for something to do, check it out!
Warm regards,
Steve
P.S. I should have written that it is the oldest site of mining in California, not just cinnabar.
"Cinnabar"!!! Sorry for the misspelling! Dang nabit!!! I wish I could edit after 15 minutes!!!!
That was interesting, Steve. I haven't heard the term quicksilver for so long that I had forgotten it. I had no idea the Chinese imported cinnabar and neither did I understand the link to mercury. If anyone else feels like that and wants to do some reading about it, this link may be of interest:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/cinnabar.htm
That's very interesting. The article doesn't mention that cinnabar also comes in white.
The guide at the museum said she used to play with mercury when she was a kid. I vaguely remember it in science class, don't think we ever touched it, though.
I suppose if you are testing a cinnabar piece with a hot pin, you should do it outside. You'd think the mercury pollution in New Almaden would be worse, but it's still a thriving village with many living in former worker's cabins.
@steve I thought it was built up layers of substance from a Sumac, are there different kinds of cinnabar, one mineral and one vegetable?
@sharonp I understand now what you were asking. Exuse me previous response.
Authentic cinnabar Chinese objects are created with a paste made from real cinnabar and sap from the lac tree. Imitation cinnabar objects, I'm not sure about.
According to the folks at the museum, cinnabar itself isn't dangerous, it's the process of extracting the mercury from it that is which involves heating it up and the fumes released are toxic.
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