Wolfsegg Iron

Early descriptions of the object appeared in contemporary editions of the scientific journals Nature and ''L'Astronomie'', the object identified by scientists as being a fossil meteorite. It was reported that the object was discovered when a workman at the Braun iron foundry in Schöndorf, Austria, was breaking up a block of lignite that had been mined at Wolfsegg. In 1886, mining engineer Adolf Gurlt reported on the object to the Natural History Society of Bonn, noting that the object was coated with a thin layer of rust, was made of iron, and had a specific gravity of 7.75. A plaster cast was made of the object shortly before the end of the 19th century, as the original had suffered from being handled, and had had samples cut from it by researchers. == Analysis ==

The object was analysed in 1966–1967 by the Vienna Naturhistorisches Museum using electron beam micro-analysis, which found no traces of nickel, chromium or cobalt in the iron, suggesting that it was not of meteoric origin, while the lack of sulfur indicated that it is not a pyrite. Because of its low magnesium content, Dr. Gero Kurat of the museum and Dr. Rudolf Grill of the Federal Geological Office in Vienna thought that it might be cast iron, Grill suggesting that similar rough lumps had been used as ballast in early mining machinery. The cast is currently kept in the Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseen in Linz, Austria, where the original object was also exhibited from 1950 to 1958, while the original cuboid is held by the Heimathaus Museum of Vöcklabruck, Austria. == Out-of-place artifact ==

The Wolfsegg Iron is claimed by some as an out-of-place artifact (OOPArt), and it is often stated as a fact in paranormal literature that it disappeared without trace in 1910, from the Salzburg Museum. In fact, as mentioned, it is at the Heimathaus Museum in Vöcklabruck, Austria, which is where the photo was taken. It has also erroneously been described as "a perfectly machined steel cube". == Notes ==