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GeneralIchinokawa vs. Kosang

12th Aug 2014 15:22 UTCAK

Hello,

I am here today with a question about this particular locality.

I work at a museum and in our collection we have a huge and beautiful Ichinokawa Stibnite. According to the accessions book, it was mined around 1886.

The label for the piece, however, states the locality as "Mt. Kosang, Shikoku". The only other mention I could find of this locality was on the Arkenstone's blurb for a piece stating:

"The American Museum of Natural History label accompanying the piece reads “Morgan Gift/Stibnite/large distinct crystals/Mt. Kosang, Japan.” The error in locality probably arose from an attempt to conceal the exact source of the material around the turn of the 1900s when Morgan would have obtained the specimen."

I couldn't find much more about this, and the blurb doesn't appear to have any source, so I'm asking-is that the truth? Was Mt. Kosang a sort of false name for the locality at the time?

Also "Kosang" sounds roughly like the Japanese word for mine (Kozan), so could this als be attributed to a mistranslation?

12th Aug 2014 15:31 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

See article in American Journal of Science (1883)

http://books.google.com/books?id=eoU7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=Mt.+Kosang,+Shikoku&source=bl&ots=31d5zzVJRq&sig=LNHxhL7N2h6yh8dlMaTtQ48AW54&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7CPqU9GPGZO1yASO1oDIBA&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Mt.%20Kosang%2C%20Shikoku&f=false

12th Aug 2014 15:50 UTCAK

Hm, so do you think it's just an obsolete name?

Also I just realized I misspoke, I did find other sources that contained the name of that locality, but nothing about the claim that the name was used to hide the identity of the mine.

12th Aug 2014 17:23 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

More likely just a misunderstanding. Dana had trouble with localities the farther they were from Connecticut.

1885 (He also fixed it for the 6th ed of System on Mineralogy.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=QTHyAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA301&dq=Kosang+stibnite&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7j3qU-O0B4z5yQSDkoHoCg&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Kosang%20stibnite&f=false

12th Aug 2014 18:45 UTCAK

Ah yes that seems to be it!

Thank you very much!

20th Aug 2014 05:01 UTCRuggy Holloway 🌟

The Ichinokawa mines are located on Mount Kosang though the reference is rarely used in English literature but was used in Japanese articles during the mines heyday.

The village of Ichinokawa no longer exists. There is an excellent article in Mineralogical Record by Bancroft and the locality is also covered in his book Gem and Crystal Treasures.