Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/2. (2011)
Paleontology
Collections and collectors: the Samuel von Brukenthal mineral collection indistinct from the other collections, was offered in 1923 by the management of the Brukenthal Museum during those times, to the “Transylvanian Association for Natural Sciences”, but without conceding its ownership (Binder, 1958). The Collection was then relocated to the Natural History Museum. Later on, as per Decree 176 of August 3rd 1948 on the state taking over the estates of the churches, the congregations, the communities or the private owners, the Burkenthal Museum heritage went under the administration of the Ministry of Arts and Information (Ittu, 2008). Thus the baron’s mineral collection, too, reached once again its “mother” institution in writing, but it actually remained in the museum deposits. Presently, the collection is under retrocession (Decision no. 21 of November 21, 2005), alongside the entire heritage of the Brukenthal Museum to the Evangelic Church, the rightful owner of the Brukenthal foundation heritage, which has been further enriched by three barons throughout history. Results and discussions Currently, Baron Brukenthal’s mineral collection is hosted at the Natural History Museum from Sibiu and includes 3,622 samples. This is actual the baron’s original collection, to which the mineral collection of the Rosenfeld council thesaurus was added, 4 he Rosenfeld collection catalogue and the systematical arrangement of the collection were done by Neugeboren. The collection is maintained in the same display that Neugeboren set up, namely it is divided into six groups (according to the system of the renowned mineralogist and crystallographer Weiss): I. Oxide rocks (718 pieces) IV Sulphurous metals (1129 items) II. Salic rocks (775 pieces) V. Native metals (526 items) III. Oxide ores (304 pieces) VI. Inflammable (3 pieces) When studying the collection, one ought not to lose sight of the realities of that time: the number of mineral species in that period was ten times smaller than today, the research methods were hardly outlined and mineral collections were not primarily scientific. A first reading of the inventory and a brief review of the collection would reveal that it was especially the aesthetic criteria that guided the collector, therefore the first two groups represent almost half of the total of collection items. Although it was the aesthetic that was primary in selecting the items, it was the economic reasoning that empowered the process. 1. The “oxide rocks”class: it is represented numerically and aesthetically by the quartz (428 quartz samples). The stones are unique especially due to the size of the crystals (between 3 and 10 cm), the variety of colors - from the Säcärämb, Cavnic, Baia de Arie§ ones, perfectly transparent, to the pale violet amethyst from Ro§ia Montana, and to the dark violet one at Porcura (the Barbara mine). Fig. 2. Säcäramb-Quartz (HD) (Inv. no. 2407) 113
