Lapidator

Sándor Koch

The Sándor Koch Mineral Collection", one of the most important and at the same time the least known mineral collections of Hungary, is located  in the long-standing building of the University of Szeged at the Department of Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Petrology.

The history of the Koch-collection is in a close relation with the development of the Department of Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Petrology of the University of Szeged.

The history of the Koch-collection

Our university, the legal successor of the József Ferenc University of Kolozsvár was moved to Szeged in 1921 after the treaty of Trianon. The first head of our department which was called the Institution of Geology and Mineralogy at that time was Professor Zsigmond Szentpétery who in the first place dealt with the geology of Börzsöny and Bükk Mountains but besides, he was the one who found the only mineralogical-petrological journal of Hungary of the time, the "Acta Chemica, Mineralogica et Physica". The establishment of the Institution's first mineralogical-petrological collection which consisted mainly of the gifts of the Hungarian National Museum, the University of Technical Sciences of Budapest and the University of Sciences of Budapest was also the merit of Prof. Szentpétery.

In 1940/41 Prof. Szentpétery left to the University of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca - Romania), in the meantime at Szeged as a continuation of the former institution two new departments were established: the Institution of Geology and Palaeontology and the Institution of Mineralogy and Petrology. The first leader of the later one was Professor Sándor Koch (Picture 1) who had been worked for  fifteen years at the world-famous Mineralogical Museum of the Hungarian Science Museum. (The major part of the collection established by Andor Semsey and József Krenner and known as the most complete one regarding the minerals of the Carpathian Basin was destroyed during the Revolution of 1956.)

At the Institution that was supplied very poorly with minerals Professor Koch exhibited his own collection in an entirely unusual way, by applying the principles of genetic classification. In the first three cupboards the minerals of magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic origin were placed. The so called crystallographical cupboard contained selected, well developed crystals, and there was a mineral-physical, systematic container as well. In the cupboards placed in the middle the minerals of the Carpathian Basin were exhibited also in a genetic system: I. occurrences in connection with plutonic rocks, II. occurrences in connection with volcanic rocks, III. mineral associations of sedimentary origin, IV mineral associations of metamorphic origin. In 1943 Professor Koch organized one of the most important Hungarian forums on mineralogy and petrology, the Acta Mineralogica-Petrographica.

Beside Professor Koch's mineralogical trips the collection was enriched with minerals bought on the Rockefeller Fund's financial donation but in the lack of contemporary documentation we do not know which pieces are of this origin. Probably, this was the time when the minerals bought from the famous mineral trade company of Bonn (Krantz Company) were received by the collection. The cristallographical models fabricated in a high standard might also get to the institution at this time.

The collection grew significantly due to the gathering trips of the Institution in 1941-43. Numerous interesting minerals were brought mainly from the mining district of Rozsnyó (Roznava-Slovakia) (cinnabar, siderite, wolnyne, albite, etc.) and from the mining district of Szatmár (Maramures - Romania) which was a reannexed territory of Hungary at that time. After its renewal the Institution had to pack up again, and due to orders from above its instruments and the books were transported to Sopron, while the collection was put into boxes and taken down to the basement.

The reconstruction and the reorganization of the Institution started in 1945. There was a 20% damage in the mineralogical collection and a much greater one in instruments and journals, and this was the time when Professor Koch's enormous data base which was the result of a twenty year long tireless work, and was comprised for his monograph, The Minerals of Hungary [Magyarország ásványai]. After the war he restarted the gathering of materials, but at this time he restricted his field of interest from the Carpathian Basin to the present territory of Hungary. (The monograph was published in 1966.)

In the 60's and 70's thanked for the good international relationships of Professor Koch the number of minerals increased in every year: with German pieces by  field trips to Dresden and Freiberg and with Czechoslovakian ones by the good relations with Brno. For enriching the collection field trips to Albania and the Soviet Union and gathering trips to the active mining districts of Hungary (Rudabánya, Gyöngyösoroszi, Recsk, etc.) were organized regularly. With the leadership of Professor Koch new mineral species were classified and wrote down at the institution. These are the following:

- Fülöppite - 3PbS •4Sb2S3, occurrence: Kereszthegy mine at Nagybánya (Dealul Crucii, Baia Mare - Romania), it was named after its finder, Béla Fülöpp, a lawyer who was the friend and collecting partner of Sándor Koch.

- Csiklovaite - Bi2TeS2, it was written down from the one-time gold mine of Nagybörzsöny (Nagybörzsöny - Grosspilsen, Hungary), it was named after its occurrence in Transylvania (Ciclova - Romania).

- Matraite - ZnS (3R), the third (beside sphalerite and wurtztite), rhombic variant of zinc-sulfide, typical occurrence: Gyöngyösoroszi in the Mátra Mountains (Hungary).

- Kiscellite - it is not accepted by the IMA as a distinct mineral, it is a fossilized kind of resin from the Kiscell formation of the Remete Mountain near to Budapest.


In 1965 the university purchased the Koch-collection, but it has not grown significantly since that time. The reasons, which has disabled the enlargement and the improvement, are the lack of donators and other financial resources and the borders which were uneasy to cross before the changes in Eastern Europe.

Sándor Koch

Koch Sándor (1914 - 1983)

The system of collection

The mineral collection basically consists of two main units. In the present glass fronted cupboards backing the walls a systematic collection can be found. In the 15 cupboards 1156 specimens of the approximately 400 exhibited mineral species can be found and classified as follows:

I. Native elements; II. Sulphides and sulphosalts; III. Oxides, hydroxides; IV. Phosphates and related compounds; V. Sulphates and related compounds; VI. Carbonates, borates, nitrates; VII. Halogenides; VIII. Organic minerals.

The value of the systematic collection is increased by the fact that the 80% of its exhibited specimens are also originating from sites of the Carpathian Basin.

Of native elements the grown up gold lamella, larger than 2 cm, originating from Verespatak (Rosia Montana, Muntii Apuseni - Romania), a mine that was under work even in the Roman times is absolutely worth to mention (Picture...).

Native silver is represented by a great sized pseudomorph from the classical site of Kongsberg (closed down for a long time) and by an astonishing ostrich-feather shaped skeletal crystal from Freiberg .

In terms of tellurides and sulphides the specimens of the Hungarian-related nagyagite, krennerite, sylvanite and the small sized but well developed and bright crystals of andorite, semseyite and fizeyite gathered in the one-time gold mines of the Apuseni Mts. and in the mining district of Szatmár, respectively, must be mentioned.

In the cupboard of oxides and hydroxides we can study almost all variants of cryptocrystalline quartz (calcedonite, jasper, agate, etc.) of all classical sites inside the Carpathians (Tekerõ - Techerau - Romania, Kötelesmezõ - Trestia - Romania, Háromvíz - Tri Voda - Slovakia). Among the opal variants two extraordinary specimens from Veresvágás (Cervenica -Slovakia) represent the precious opal which was regarded for several hundred years as the "Hungarian national gem".

The variety of limonite in terms of colour and shape is similar to that of quartz. The limonite associations of Rudabánya (closed down a decade ago) and Gyalár (Ghelar - Romania) are likely to be statues of abstract art. With their bright black or iridescent surfaces the botryoidal stalagtite-like „eisenkopf" and goethite-druse are also excellent specimens of the collection.

Due to the relations of Professor Koch and his successor Professor Gyula Grassely in Leningrad, in the 60's numerous mineral and rock samples from alkali rocks with related mineralization of the Kola Peninsula were received for the collection. The Icelandic zeolites and some attractive native sulphurs, coelestines and aragonites (Picture....) of famous sulphur mines of Sicily got to the collection in a similar way.

The real "treasures" of the collection are in four glass cases placed in the middle of the gallery, and here is the vast majority of the specimens, originating from Sándor Koch's private collection. From a mineralogical point of view the 1058 specimens of the "Carpathian Basin collection" represent almost all mining districts of pre-trianon Hungary.

The unusual but didactic way of systematization of the exhibited specimens was carried out according to the principles of genetics. The minerals of magmatic rocks and their related mineralization are followed by the minerals of the sedimentary and metamorphic geophases. In all cases the minerals of present Hungarian deposits are presented in the first place, and these are followed by the samples taken from the mines of present Romania and Slovakia.

The first glass case contains the wonderful secondary copper minerals (dendritic native copper specimens coated by malachite (Picture...), 10 cm large azurite, 2 cm large bundles of malachite grown-up on white calcite) of the oxidation-cementation zone of Rudabánya's ferriferous-metasomatic ore deposit. The malachite pseudomorphs of the mineralization and the often 2,5 cm large crystals of cuprite octahedra can compete with the world famous findings of Bisbee, Tsumeb and Chessy. This proves that the deposits of Rudabánya are unfairly little-known in international mineralogy.

The scarnic minerals (garnets, wollasatonite, fassaite, etc.) originating from the long ago closed down mines of the Bánát contact zone are the irreplaceable treasures of the Koch-collection. The minerals of magnetitic and polymetallic mineralization, related mainly to the contact zones of granodiorites limestones, prove the diversity of Bánát's mineral world. The so called "garnet-series" of the collection is represented by variously coloured rombic dodecahedra and deltoidicositetrahedra of andradite gathered at Vaskõ (Ocna de Fier - Romania) and Dognácska (Dognecea - Romania) mainly in the 1910's. Such classical findings are the disc shaped hematite twins of Dognácska (Dognecea - Romania) (Picture...) and the cianotrichite of Új-Moldova (Moldova Noua - Romania) (Picture...). Besides, it is worth to mention the bismuthines, the prases, the several cm large crystals of diopside groups grown through by garnets and some interesting parageneses like amethyst crystals on andradite or eritrine with quartz on magnetite all of which is from Vaskõ (Ocna de Fier - Romania).

The second glass case shelters the minerals of the classical mines of former Upper Hungary, now Slovakia. The Szepes-Gömöri Érchegység is represented by wonderful siderites, albites grown-up on siderite, tetraedrites, sphalerites, deformed quartz crystals with interesting shapes; by well developed cinnabar and dolomite crystals, iridescent bluish evansites; and by "Eisenkopf"s of varied shapes originating from the Bernardi mine of Rozsnyó (Roznava - Slovakia); from Alsósajó (Nizna Slana - Slovakia); and from Dobsina (Dobsina - Slovakia), respectively.

From the mines of Selmecbánya (Banska Stiavnica - Slovakia), the city which was famous for its Upper Hungarian Mining Academy, beside the well-known deficient quartz crystals deep purple groups of amethyst, quartzes coated by akanite, well developed stefanite and sceptre-quartz are the members of our collection.

There are euchroite and three mineral associations of beautiful libethenites containing well-developed crystals the typical occurrence of which is Libetbánya (Lubietova - Slovakia) belonging to the mineralization zone located in the vicinity of Besztercebánya (Banska Bystrica - Slovakia). With an origin similar to the above mentioned minerals there is also a 2 cm large octahedron of hauerite written down first from Végleskálnok (Kalinka - Slovakia).

The Hungarian mines of the polymetallic mineralizations of the Inner Carpathian Volcanic Arc are represented only by the minerals of Gyöngyösoroszi, Recsk, Nagybörzsöny (Grosspilsen). Beside the amethysts of Gyöngyösoroszi's mine closed down a decade ago the calcite variants and the apple-green fluorites are also beautiful (Picture...).

An entire glass case is filled with the minerals of the mining district of Szatmár, namely with that of Nagybánya (Baie Mare - Romania). However, the mines are still under work, the Koch-collection gives an over all view of the mineral parageneses found in the 30's - 50's, especially in the years of World War II. when these mines were temporarily reannexed by Hungary and provided a chance for systematic gathering. The groups of andorite and felsõbányaite (Picture...) which was written down from here, Felsõbánya (Baia Sprie - Romania) are really irreplaceable. The collection also contains geocronite and freislebenite from the dykes of the mined away old mountain of Felsõbánya.

Felsõbánya is very famous of the barites occurring there. The "barite series" containing barite variants (often with antimonite) some of which are of palm size is a valuable part of the collection. The colour of some barites is also astonishing, they can be painted yellow, red and black (Picture...) by the inclusions of orpiment, by realgar and by boulangerite and jamesonite, respectively.

There are mineralogical specialities such as the rosette shaped pirrhotine groups (often with vivianite) with sunk in base planes originating from Kisbánya's (Chiuzbaia - Romania) completely mined  away Salán Dyke, or the pirargirite of the mine of Kereszthegy (Dealul Crucii, Baia Mare - Romania) or its complex sulphide, called fülöppite, which was written down from here by Sándor Koch and was named after the professor's friend, Béla Fülöp. To the delight of visitors there are aesthetical crystals of fluorite and rhodochrosite from Kapnikbánya (Picture...).

The fourth glass case of the Carpathian Basin collection contains the tellurides (nagyagite, krennerite, sylvanite) and other dyke infilling minerals (alabandine, rhodochrozite, realgar, quartz of the one-time world famous gold mines Apuseni Mts. The precious and carefully kept treasure of the Koch collection is the 8 cm large hessite crystal (Picture...) which is probably the greatest one in the world. Although it is broken, it is irreplaceable since nowadays its sometime occurrence, Botesbánya (Bucium - Romania) can hardly be even found.

Dr. Pál-Molnár Elemér,

Dr. Kóbor Balázs