SHARP, intensely colorful crystals to about 3 mm cover this matrix plate and make for a very attractive and significant example of the species for this locale. Although you get larger libethenite from other places, the lustre and sharpness of these crystals is, for me, among the top for the species. They look like little green metallic octohedra at first glance. From the John Ydren collection, purchased for $125 in 1972 (a lot of money for those days!). Again, while you can get bigger crystals, this to me has more flash and color appeal than most, and overall is a superb example of the species. NOTE THIS SPECIMEN IS FEATURED IN THE OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE OF LAPIS, PAGE 9, ON THE COLUMN ABOUT "STECKBRIEF: LIBETHENITE"

This beautiful miniature specimen features a GEMMY 1.7 cm crystal atop, which is of quite rare size for the species. More than that, it will literally cut a large stone, again a rarity for the species. This was in the Irv Brown miniatures collection in San Diego, in the mid 1990s, and was then sold as he switched from miniatures to larger specimens. At the time, I recall that the local gem cutter (aka Mark the Butcher of Good Crystals) offered him $1200 for the piece as (wholesale) cutting rough. Irv and I were both mortified! But, that speaks to the rarity of cut gems of this incredibly intense purple color, of any species. Funny enough, I had forgotten about the piece for over a decade and just came across it , to reacquire it, recently. I recognized it immediately of course, as there is so much mediocrity available for these old finds (mostly came out over 30 years ago), and this one was exceptional.

Crystals of sharp, lustrous, complex galena cover a matrix of quartz and are associated here with the desirable brown, tranclucent siderite that is classic for this old historic locality. The galenas are typical Neudorf style, extremely lustrous with sharp terminal faces and complex sides, sometimes in elongated crystals, here to 4 cm. This MAJOR German galena specimen was purchased by a prominent German collector from American dealer Rick Smith in 1970. This was the same era in which he was trading many old specimens out of the American Museum collections, and in any case it is certainly from an old source as this habit and style is characteristic of the most sought-after Neudorf specimens, from the mid to late 1800s. Such large, robust specimens are very hard to find today on the market. They ONLY come from major old collections, and the occasional museum deaccession. The piece is in remarkable condition with only trivial and peripheral edge wear, and one area near the bottom of broken galena (although it may simply be contacting and not true damage there as parts of that irregular area look crystallized on a micro scale). Even so, I have seen few CABINET sized examples of any quality; and we regard this as a major specimen.