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Mineral Specimens with Acanthite
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4.7 x 3.3 x 3.1 cm. A beautifully aesthetic curved and twisted silver wire projects upward from the sculptural matrix on this fine specimen from the Uchucchacua Mine of Peru. The wire and matrix are very nicely accented by pods of earthy acanthite with matrix. Fairly common around 10 years ago, these are now only available in recycled collections. Ex. Wes Parker Collection.
3 x 2.0 x 1.2 cm. An extremely lustrous, elongated, hoppered crystal of exceptional quality for this classic silver area. It is complete-all-around. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
10.2 x 6.0 x 4.0 cm. Sharp, lustrous, tabular acanthite crystals to 6 mm are nicely scattered on the vuggy cabinet matrix partially surrounding the face of a thin vein of reddish-brown sphalerite microcrystals on this fine and rich ore specimen from a very uncommon Pribram locale - Uranium Mine No. 7 at Trebsko. Specimens from this mine are rarely available. Ex. Josef Vajdak Collection, a noted Pribram specialist and comes with another label indicating that the piece was collected in 1969.
4.5 x 3.1 x 0.9 cm. Silver specimens from the historic mines at Kongsberg are certainly one of the most desirable localities for the species. This fine, flattened, old-time specimen is an interesting tangled nest of curled, thick silver wires nicely accented with acanthite. The silver wires are beautifully burnished to tarnished. The thick wires on one end and a side are striking. Highly representative material from this classic locale. Ex. Wes Parker Collection.
A well-crystallized acanthite with lustrous faces that have formed on the display side, and a blocky “top” with cubic modifications here and there. 3.3 x 2 x 1 cm
4.8 x 4.5 x 2.3 cm. Almost a complete floater, this acanthite specimen can be displayed on either side to equal effect. It is very 3-dimensional and treelike, and just sharper than most acanthites from here tend to be. The dark gray crystals are arborescent, with a few exhibiting incipient, hopper growth. The largest crystal is 1.1 cm in length. Some crystals have a thin brassy yellow coating of chalcopyrite, as well as the base of the cluster. Ex. Dr. Miguel Romero Collection.
6.4 x 4.3 x 3.7 cm. This is truly a rare and unusual specimen. It is a significant piece, and I have not seen similar from Mexico in this style. Hoppered growths of large, unusually robust acanthite crystals, to 1.6 cm across, have been altered to silver here. The weight of this piece is clearly much heavier than it would be if these were still acanthite crystals, so it is not just a surface alteration. As an added bonus, some of the interstitial spaces contain chromium chlorargyrite, which is glassy and ivory colored. A unique and important specimen of a rare silver replacement for this locality. Silver pseudomorphs after acanthite are rare enough, and in crystals of this size...surprising. Ex. Dr. Miguel Romero Collection.
9 x 3.5 x 3.5 cm. A superb, freestanding acanthite cluster with high lustre and incredibly fine crystallization. This was regarded as the #2 or #3 acanthite in the collection, depending on personal tastes, only because Romero also had the famous larger specimen. For anybody else, it would have been their insurmountable, #1 piece. And in any case, this specimen exhibits more textbook form, for the species, in an unusually elegant cluster. It is, by any standard, a outstanding for the species and locale, of the highest level. This specimen from the Dr Miguel Romero collection was on loan exhibition to the University of Arizona Museum for over a decade, until my purchase of this collection in 2008. It was on display in special cases at the museum, and has since been featured in the book "The Miguel Romero Collection of Mexico Minerals" which we sponsored as a special supplement book (published by the Mineralogical Record in December of 2008).
12 x 8 x 7 cm. It is hard to appreciate this piece, until held in the hand. It has such dimensionality, such geometry, that it looks man-made and like no other acanthite I have seen in nature. It is an order of magnitude more important and impressive than any other Mexican acanthite I have seen, excepting only the famous Houston Museum specimen. And, for a "black mineral" it has remarkable aesthetic and display impact. The piece is simply mesmerizing....and note, this is not my own opinion only, but shared by many others who have seen the specimen over the decade it was on loan to a public museum; and by many collector specialists who know far more about silver species than I do. In fact, I have heard many collectors pronounce this to be the finest example of acanthite from any locality, as Dr. Terry Wallace and Dr. Wendell Wilson convey in the Romero Collection book where they add: This specimen is widely regarded as the finest example of the species in existence. It was originally collected by (mine owner) John Pedrazzini around 1890 and may have been among the spectacular specimens that he exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He eventually presented it to Mexican mineralogist Prof. Eduardo Schmitter Villada (1904-1982), who later gave it to Miguel Romero (as a gift to his former graduate student). Mining here ceased in 1930. This cabinet-sized specimen is considered to be one of the greatest treasures of the Romero collection. Some people who have seen the collection ranking this even ahead of the famous Aztec Sun legrandite in importance and beauty. Once a core specimen on display in both his museum, and later for a decade in the University of Arizona Mineral Museum on loan from the Romero family. Featured in the book on Romero's collection, on page 18. Jeff Scovil photo. Ex. Dr. Miguel Romero Collection.
4.8 x 3.5 x 1.4 cm. A sculptural, very beautiful wire silver combination specimen from the historic mines at Pribram. The piece looks like a bird with a large beak. The "beak" is composed of thick, intergrown, silver wires coated with acanthite and is attached to a "head" of quartz. The banded neck and chest area is highlighted by lustrous ruby-jack sphalerite crystals, sparkly pyrite microcrystals and more acanthite-coated silver. The lower part of the "bird's" body is matrix. Truly an aesthetic, old-time wire silver combination specimen from this noted locale. Ex. Marty Lewadny Collection.
1.7 x 1.2 x 0.9 cm. A classic, old-time thumbnail from the historic Freiberg District of Germany. A sharp, lustrous, battleship-gray acanthite crystal is attractively embedded in starkly contrasting calcite. Aesthetic material from the George Feist Collection #1363.
3.4 x 1.8 x 1.2 cm. Exquisite group of sharp metallic crystals to 7mm on matrix from the classic Mexican location for silver minerals, Guanajuato. These crystals appear to have been deposited onto argentite crystals which formed earlier and were likely coated with some microcrystalline silver mineral. Some of the earlier deposited argentite has formed very interesting washboard crystal groups which give the piece an unusual look. Ex. Earl Calvert collection circa 1930s-1960s probably. Later, ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
5.1 x 5.1 x 2.0 cm. Sharp, lustrous acanthite (formerly argentite) crystals to 9mm nestled in a small pocket of calcite crystals on a massive calcite matrix. The largest acanthite crystal appears to have been hollowed out or "hoppered" during formation yet is still well terminated. Unique, old European classics like this are very difficult to obtain. Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
3.8 x 2.8 x 2.7 cm. A very rich and fine silver ore specimen consisting of nicely burnished, hackly silver wires with dark gray, massive acanthite in a quartz matrix from the Uchucchacua Mine of Peru. Very little new material has come out in the last few years. Ex. Wes Parker Collection. Weighs 44 grams.
3.4 x 3.0 x 1.7 cm. Beautifully burnished, curved and curled silver wires are very aesthetically perched on matrix of metallic-bright acanthite and quartz from a new find at the Hongda Mine of China. This piece bears strong resemblance to classic Kongsberg wire silvers.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Silver, Acanthite from Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256821a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256821a.jpg)
![Acanthite from Fresnillo de Gonzalez Echeverria (Fresnillo), Mun. de Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257469a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257469a.jpg)
![Acanthite, Sphalerite from Uranium Mine No. 7, Třebsko, Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446a.jpg)
![Acanthite, Sphalerite from Uranium Mine No. 7, Třebsko, Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446b.jpg)
![Acanthite, Sphalerite from Uranium Mine No. 7, Třebsko, Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446c.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446c.jpg)
![Acanthite, Sphalerite from Uranium Mine No. 7, Třebsko, Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446d.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-258446d.jpg)
![Silver, Acanthite from Kongsberg Silver Mining District, Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway [db_pics/mdpics/MD-263818a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-263818a.jpg)
![Acanthite from La Sirena Mine, Guanajuato, Mun. de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-26428a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-26428a.jpg)
![Acanthite, Polybasite from San Juan de Rayas Mine (Rayas Mine; Reyes Mine), Guanajuato, Mun. de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-266071a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-266071a.jpg)
![Silver, Acanthite from San Juan de Rayas Mine (Rayas Mine; Reyes Mine), Guanajuato, Mun. de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-266080a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-266080a.jpg)
![Acanthite from San Juan de Rayas Mine (Rayas Mine; Reyes Mine), Guanajuato, Mun. de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-266134a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-266134a.jpg)
![Acanthite from Chispas Mine (Pedrazzini mine), Arizpe, Mun. de Arizpe, Sonora, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-266481a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-266481a.jpg)
![Silver, Acanthite, Sphalerite, Pyrite from Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-275023a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-275023a.jpg)
![Silver, Acanthite, Sphalerite, Pyrite from Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-275023b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-275023b.jpg)
![Acanthite, Calcite from Freiberg District, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany [db_pics/mdpics/MD-275080a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-275080a.jpg)
![Acanthite from Guanajuato, Mun. de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-276267a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-276267a.jpg)
![Acanthite, Calcite from Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-276315a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-276315a.jpg)
![Acanthite, Calcite from Příbram, Central Bohemia Region, Bohemia (Böhmen; Boehmen), Czech Republic [db_pics/mdpics/MD-276315b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-276315b.jpg)
![Silver, Acanthite from Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru [db_pics/mdpics/MD-282205a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-282205a.jpg)
![Silver, Acanthite, Quartz from Hongda Mine, Xiaoqinggou Ag-Mn deposit, Lingqiu Co., Datong Prefecture, Shanxi Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-282557a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-282557a.jpg)