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A classic Old European Collection circa 1900!
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A very rich, and VERY rare, large specimen of matlockite featuring platy yellow crystals to just over 1 cm perched in a very heavy cerussite matrix. Is it the prettiest matlockite in the world? No. But it IS a very rich, very showy piece overall. Minor yellow mineralization coats the back (hemimorphite?). This is from the type locality for the specioes.
A beautiful locality specimen with sharp gemmy spahlerites to 6 mm on drusy, sparkling calcite, all atop large fat milky quartz points. Although this specimen has no label withit, it was sight-ID'd by German-specialist/collector Herb Obodda.
I initially had mis-described this as Dyscrasite on Arsenic but its more complicated than that, according to Dr. Frank Keutsch: I am pretty sure of the re-ID as I have a bunch of these pieces in my collection and am a little obsessive about analyzing them. In essence my experience always has been the sequence: dyscrasite core, followed by arsenic, with lollingite xx on top. The label also states "dyscrasite in nat. arsenic." From the important Samson Mine, then, this is a sparkling specimen of minute Lollingite crystals perched upon native arsenic atop of nodular dyscrasite (aesthetic at least by standards of that species, from here). A significant and interesting locality piece.
A really rare locality piece, showing off a gemmy 7mm anglesite in a matrix of copper-rich ore. Unusual for this locality!
A cute miniature with several sharp crystals of dyscrasite in unusually stout form, to 6mm in size in calcite matrix.
A rare locality specimen of rich velvety malachite, in stalactites draping over matrix of jackstraw cerussite! The malachite completely covers and fills in the latticework of the cerussite, lending stability to an otherwise fragile specimen. This is a rare association, rare old locality, and a particularly attractive specimen overall. The malachite is not pristine, but it does have a nice display face and shows plenty of color and good stalactites. note label dated 1860!
A rich, lustrous specimen of sharp galena crystals accented by siderite and sparkling calcite, from this classic locality.
A stunningly beautiful, sparkling cluster of bright yellow fluorite draped by bright white quartz crystals, for a pretty combo. This is a classic and very old locality for fluorite of course, but few such combination specimens of such beauty are around to own - I have not seen any for sale quite like this one.
SHARP, super lustrous, machine-carved-looking pyrargyrites to 7.5 mm make this little matrix specimen a jewel of a rock. The crystals are not big, but they have presence, and they light up when backlit. Superb old classic from this important mining district.
A sharp complex crystal of about 1 inch, perched on matrix of small calcites, makes this a classic example from this old locality.
An important, very large specimen for the locality of bright blue, lustrous linarite crystals to nearly 1 cm, laying flat on a starkly contrasting matrix plate. Note the 1840-dated label! This is a vrey significant specimen that, because of that date, places it among the earliest authenticated specimens of linarite from this district (I am comparing this to a well known specimen sold by Bryce Wright to the BMNH in 1843, now in the Lindsay Greenbank collection, which was said by the BMNH and by Richard Barstow to be the earliest documented Cumberland linarite). This would seem to have come out even earlier, and it is frankly a beautiful piece as well. The date and crystal habit/style seems to indicate that the origin of this piece is the same as Greenbank's, Roughton Gill (mined by the Saxons during Elizabethan times long before!), rather than from the later-producing Red Gill Mine which also became known for linarite of a different habit in later years. The size is also unusual for either locality, for a Cumberland linarite specimen.
A very weird, airy specimen with fat, striated , brownish-gray calcites on which are perched little bubbly , faintly green smithsonite crystals. Unusual, old example from Broken Hill (we surmise, by habit and associatin, and matrix...though no label survives)
A large and brilliantly sparkling specimen with intense blue microcrystals, from this classic old locality. I have not seen many Banat azurites for sale, period, of any quality
A classic style of calcite from his historic locale, with stacked flat disc-shaped crystals measuring about 5 cm across, overall as a cluster. Beautiful, and interesting, with an 1878 label.
A most unusual old locality specimen of cerussite from the famous old mines of Sardinia. Thanks to Dr. Werner Paar for helping to decipher this label!: It reads "Ingurtosa" , which is an old lead mine on Sardinia (not yet listed in Mindat -ed.). I found this location in the famous book of HINTZE ("Handbook of Mineralogy"), 1st volume/3rd division/1st part (p.3077) under worldwide occurrences for Cerussite ..
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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