The presence of gnomes or "kobalde" in mining in Germany in the period
1450-1600 is well documented--essentially in collections of fairy tales and
legends.  I remember I ran across three or four such collections of stories,
many of them published a couple of decades ago in the old DDR. I may yet
find the references if you need them.
The background was that "somebody" remembered the Arabs had developed very
bluish glass and that the color came from a mineral.  "Small," "darker
skinned" men then began to search for such ore and ended up digging in
Saxony and in the Black Forest.  Observed by the locals, many were arrested,
and again and again, were accused of sorcery, but no proof was ever found.
All the "sheriffs" ever discovered were small quantities of seemingly
meaningless and valueless  dirt, which must really have been cobalt or
manganese ore which these "kobolds" then schlepped to Venice where the
Murano glass works developed their famous blue glass.  These "little men",
called Kobolds, gave their name to cobalt, and were really prospectors and
ore buyers.
Best
Helmut Waszkis
(A forthcoming book on Metal Trading, to be published by Metal Bulletin,
December 2002 or January 2003)will contain a small chapter on the subject).

-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
George Chaplin
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 7:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: References to Gnomes in mines


Hi All,

I've been reading Agricola's De Re Metallica and was fascinated by the
references to Gnomes and other fairy folk down the mines. Of particular
interest was the matter of fact mention Agricola makes, in a very serious
work.

Are there any other references to Gnomes etc. in early works of stature?

The other aspect which I found of interest was the linking of Gnomes to
Cobalt, has anyone came across this too?

I should say this is not an attempted wind up, I am genuinely interested in
past literary references to spirits in mines. The subject can today be
regarded as comical, but I have no doubt that Agricola believed he had seen
such things and they were commonplace.

-----Original Message-----
From: Newman, Phil [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 11 November 2002 12:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Gold from Mundic!


> At a copper mine in Devon that I'm currently writing up (Druid), there was
> much excitement in the 1850s at shareholders' meetings regarding
> experiments by an Australian called Calvert into extracting Gold from the
> gossans and mundic deposits in the mine using  Berdan's 'gold amalgamating
> machine'. Can anyone tell me more about this apparatus? Did it actually
> work for example? I suspect in this case it was just  another transparent
> attempt to rally the interest of shareholders in an unpromising mine where
> result were slow in coming, but its possible that Calvert's intentions
> were genuine.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Phil Newman
> English Heritage, Exeter
>
>