Magnetic Muscovite portfolio (june 22, 1867)

Item Description

This is a unique historical item that was given us to auction by a customer, with a wonderful story. William Jefferis was both a collector and educator of minerals in the heyday of American mineralogy in the mid to late 1800s. He built and gave his systematic collection to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh in the late 1800s. This portfolio was among the items given at that time. It seems to have been created personally by him, in 1867, as it bears his identifiable handwriting on the cover paper. Each piece was selected to fit within the bounds of the paper slips, 24 in all. These famous mica plates from Chandler's Hollow were used for everything from windowpanes in homes, to the academic study of oriented magnetism due to the odd patterns within. I have never seen so many pieces in one place! This set of twenty four mica plates, most of which probably average in the 20x15 cm size, are classic historical and research items from this famous quarry. Today, they are practically unavailable on the market. This set was given as a gift by Del Oswald, the curator in the early 1970s, to a local collector's family which is now selling it. The booklet itself contains writing only on the front cover, in Jefferis' script. The covers are both detached from the old, original binding, though the booklet pages inside, holding the mica plates (which all slide free of the pages), are intact. I would think that each mica piece is worth at least $100 as a historical item. They are large and striking. As a set with Jefferis' cover, this is unique.