Lerebours - Plattner's Kit - C. 1860

[LEREBOURS & SECRETAN or LEREBOURS (Marc), attributed to]. Plattner's kit for qualitative tests in mineralogy, France, circa 1850-1860. Boxwood, brass, steel, glass, wood, red velvet; box: 30x30x34cm. Large kit called Plattner, after the German chemist Karl Friedrich Plattner, who developed in the 1830s a new rapid method of qualitative testing of minerals by blowtorch. This method of mineralogy was used throughout the 19th century. The present box is not signed but the Lerebours/Secretan catalog dating from 1853 and then that of Secretan from 1862 illustrate a Plattner box whose upper tray is absolutely similar to the present box, even in the placement of its instruments. We can therefore attribute this kit to Lerebours and Secretan or Secretan alone and date it around 1850-1860. The upper tray contains the instruments used for the mineralogical analysis itself. Below are a series of glass bottles, unlabeled, and the brass elements used to construct the transportable blowtorch. Finally, a drawer at the bottom of the box contains a second series of glass bottles and small wooden cases, again unlabeled. The box is in a remarkable and very rare state of preservation. In the inner part of the lid, an element (a small transport scale?) is missing. Despite this lack, an important box due to its size and state of preservation, very rare in private hands.