Living in Michigan and realizing our historical importance can be... just plain staggering sometimes. We think most recently, at least in our time, the importance of the automotive industry. Going back just a little more in time, it was the steel / iron industry. Before that logging, and copper. Each playing an important part in Michigan’s history and our nation’s history.
From a jewelers perspective, these industries have been good for leaving behind history that is fashionably wearable. So, knowing the history behind the art, makes those pieces even more exciting!
I've just posted some history about the Michigan state stone, the Petoskey stone. So, now for a few more tidbits of information tying logging, iron, copper mining, and cars together with history and art in our state.
LELAND BLUE, an iron smelters waste byproduct, slag glass... sounds bad huh? Leland blue is a much sought after "stone", which is used locally and bought nationally. It's fairly rare, even though iron was smelted around several Michigan locations, both in Lower Michigan as well as in the Upper Peninsula. It ranges in color, from gray on through the black, blue and green color groups in over 30 colors! Some people speculate that the color differences comes from the wood used to make charcoal for smelting iron in the blast furnaces!
MICHIGAN COPPER, also called, 'Red Metal', is a large part of Michigan history. Predating modern man! From ancient open pit mines on Isle Royal and the Keweenaw Peninsula. It has been documented that, Michigan copper has even been found in the Valley Of The Kings, that's right...Egypt! In the late 18th century alone, Michigan produced up to 95% of the U.S. copper supplies! Commercial mining began around 1845 and, "Annual production peaked in 1916 at 266 million pounds (121,000 metric tons) of copper!" Picture it BIG!
Lastly, Let us consider, Fordite. A reclaimed product made from automotive paint! Fordite, Motor City Agate or sometimes even called, "Detroit Agate", was destined for the waste heap! This paint builds up on the assembly line... equipment that pulls cars through the paint booths and on through the drying kilns, where it literally becomes, "hard as rock"! So, every now and again, this equipment has to have the paint chipped off in order to continue working correctly, thus providing artists with, "Fordite"! It does come at a price. Workers can get fired, for, ... "profiting from the company", but fetching around $52 a gram, which is more then gold, must be worth it to them. I know I'm thankful for the contacts I have!
Ken