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Mineral Specimens with Pyrite
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4.3 x 3.3 x 2.9 cm. A fine galena spinel twin miniature of this style from Russia. The flattened, spinel twinned crystal stands up perfectly on a natural "base" of quartz, sphalerite, and even a brassy pyrite crystal.
A big, showy pyrite specimen from the sulfide collection of Gene Meieran. Minor damage here and there but in context nothing that really bothers me - it’s a heck of a showpiece, and has unusually sharp cubic crystals for the locality. 10.0 x 9.3 x 5.9 cm
SHARP floater cluster - note the unusual corner modifications, though, whereas most of these are simple cubes. 2 x 1.5 x 1.3
8.9 x 6.9 x 4.0 cm. Here are two highly-modified crystals of pyrite - one of them with a natural split down the middle, the other a rough cuboctahedron measuring 3.5 cm and really the "star" of the specimen, with shimmering luster and scaly stepped faces. Ex. Feist Collection.
12.0 x 5.4 x 4.6 cm. A large specimen with rich sparkly pyrite, and perhaps some gold in it. It’s probably minute here, but the museum seems to have been sure of it. Ex. Philadelphia Academy of Sciences Collection.
10.6 x 9.6 x 0.3 cm. This remarkable form of pyrite is found in narrow seams of shale between seams of coal in the mines near Sparta, Illinois near the 300 foot level. Scientists are not sure of their origin. The main theory is that they are an undetermined fossil that has been replaced by pyrite. At any rate, they are quite remarkable, a shimmering golden color, and complete all around, like a sand dollar.
4.6 x 4.5 x 3.8 cm. This is a rather common type of pseudomorph (limonite is hydrated iron oxide and pyrite is iron sulfide), appearing at various localities around the world, but not often seen from Brazil like this large one is. Ex. Gene Meieran Collection.
5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 cm. A beautifully symmetrical, highly arching, nearly pristine, lustrous pyritized Spirifer brachiopod from the Devonian of Sylvania, Ohio. This specimen has excellent bi-lateral symmetry and comes from a quarry west of Toledo.
5.3 x 4.0 x 3.7 cm. A rare, for the locality, pyrite with tetrahedrite crystal from the Climax Molybdenum Mine of Colorado. Climax was a bulk, low-grade molybdenum mine and mineral collecting by mine personnel was prohibited. This is a large, sharp, mirror-bright, rich brass-yellow cube nicely accented by a scattering of tetrahedrite crsystals. Ex. Dave Stoudt Collection.
5.2 x 4.6 x 1.6 cm. A fine Peruvian specimen of an elongated 3 cm Tetrahedrite crystal completely covered by lustrous Pyrite crystals, all on a plate of Quartz. Ex. Charlie Key.
8.5 x 8.4 x 3.4 cm. This is a fine example of this classic Utah pseudomorph. This one comes from different pocket and from an earlier period at the mine. As opposed to the usual interpenetration cubes that are best-known, here you have razor sharp octahedral crystals (to just under 2 cm along the edge). They actually look something like those Bolivian magnetites.
8.0 x 6.8 x 4.2 cm. This very unusual Naica specimen just shimmers. What you are looking at are the corners of hundreds of very small pyrite cubes massed together; some of them are golden, some are iridescent with purple tones, and others have a thin coating of iron-oxide - which gives the specimen this pretty multi-colored appearance. The little snowy puffs of calcite add further to the attractiveness. Found in an old collection at the 2008 Munich show.
13.8 x 8.8 x 7.8 cm. A superb burst of slender, elegant, transparent crystals of quartz, peppered with lustrous, golden pyrites. The pyrite cubes have pretty striations on their faces. Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
7.0 x 5.1 x 3.5 cm. An unusual specimen with sharp hexagonal siderite crystals perched upon pyrite. Very unusual for the locality. Ex. Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia Collection.
7.3 x 4.4 x 3.6 cm. A strange pyrite specimen (which in this rich form is rare for here), with a single crystal of sphalerite(?) perched atop. Ex. Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia Collection.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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