Lead obtained from the smelting of coarsely powdered galena, "Schliegwerkeblei"

Made:
before 1889
Lead obtained from the smelting of coarsely powdered galena

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Lead obtained from the smelting of coarsely powdered galena
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Lead obtained from the smelting of coarsely powdered galena, "Schliegwerkeblei"

Galena is the natural mineral form of lead sulfide, an ore of lead, as well as a source of silver. This is a German example of the mineral once it has been smelted into lead. Galena must be ground into a powder, ‘Schlieg’ in German, before it can be smelted. Lead has a low melting point for a metal, which means it can be easily melted in a wood fire. There is evidence of lead smelting going back thousands of years.

Details

Category:
Metallurgy
Object Number:
1889-164/1600
type:
specimen
credit:
John Percy Collection