Saigerhütte Graefenthal

The Saigerhütte Gräfenthal was a non-ferrous metallurgical plant, founded in 1462 and with interruptions until the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, in the immediate vicinity of Graefenthal . It was the second Saigerhütte that was built in what is now Thuringia and in which the Saiger process, which was new at the time, was used to separate silver from copper.

history

With the discovery of the Saiger process for separating silver from copper ores, which was attributed to Johannes Funcken between 1430 and 1451 in the imperial city of Nuremberg , the owners of smelters succeeded in obtaining possession of the silver contained in copper ore, which was not subject to delivery to the sovereign. The metal trade recognized the importance of the process very early on, which prompted financially strong merchants in this trade to build Saigerhütten. While the construction of a Saigerhütte was initially also carried out by individuals, it soon became apparent that the operation and maintenance of Saigerhütten by corporations, so-called Saiger trading companies , was more effective. In the case of Graefenthal, it was the Nuremberg citizen Heinrich Buchner who founded the works in Graefenthal in 1462 and received the corresponding concession from Conrad von Pappenheim on May 3rd . His son Moritz Buchner later took over the iron and steel works and bought several mines in the county of Mansfeld in order to cover the enormous demand for copper slate for further processing. Buchner's descendants were among the most respected citizens of the trade fair city of Leipzig and appointed Peter Buchner, a mayor, who at the same time operated the Saigerhütte Gräfenthal as an entrepreneur until 1560.

After a long interruption in the operation of the Saigerhütte, it was operated by a Saiger company from Nuremberg until 1619 and then sold to such an operating company from Ilmenau. In the year of the conclusion of the Peace of Prague in 1635, the Saiger Hut came to a complete standstill. It was only continued as a steel hammer in the 18th century.

literature

• Peter Lange: Saigerhütten in Thuringia. In: Copper Silver Steel - Contributions to the history of metallurgy. Published by the museums of the city of Olbernhau, Olbernhau 1988.

Web links

• Saigerhütten in Thuringia
• Christoph Janecke: Graefenthal, Gebersdorf and Großneundorf in the Thuringian - Franconian slate mountains. A contribution to the chronicles of these places with family history notes

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Lange: Saigerhütten in Thuringia. In: Copper Silver Steel - Contributions to the history of metallurgy. Published by the museums of the city of Olbernhau, Olbernhau 1988.