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Mineral Specimens with Pyrite
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16.5 x 12.0 x 5.5 cm. A DRAMATIC Sweet Home Mine, V-shaped, LARGE CABINET combination specimen from the Sulfide Pocket of the Tetrahedrite Drift. Water-clear quartz needles are richly and aesthetically covered with lustrous hubnerite blades to 1.8 cm, mirror-bright, striated, brass-yellow pyritohedrons and a scattering of tetrahedrite - all on a matrix of milky quartz. This is CLASSIC Sweet Home association material, SELDOM available in this quality and size. Hubnerite is a particularly desirable and uncommon accessory species. All fine Sweet Home pieces are escalating in price, with the mine now closed.
2.4 x 2.3 x 2.1 cm. This is an old Virginia pyrite with exquisite form that passed through the collections of Carlton Davis, John Medici and finally Bob Byers. It is a modified octahedral compound crystal with natural tip bevels, and little epitaxial growths of the same form on its faces. Hard to get, and very good for what it is.
4.8 x 3.5 x 3.0 cm. Now here is a truly interesting inclusion specimen - three crystals of rusty limonitic alterations of pyrite, embedded in a sharp, gemmy crystal of quartz! One of the three is entirely inside the quartz crystal, having been completely engulfed during the growth of the quartz. Rare!
5.3 x 5.3 x 4.3 cm. Another Zacatecas specimen from the collection of Charles Hansen, this one quite hard to obtain: a rich specimen of acicular jamesonite, a mass of thousands of tiny grey hair-like crystals, on matrix. Old 1960s and 1970s material.
21.4 x 17.4 x 5.4 cm. This large, showy specimen passed from the Armstrong collection to the collection of Ed David, before coming to us. It is a rich carpet of calcite crystals with a pretty salmon hue from an amount of iron or hematite inclusion. Decorating these calcites (to 7 cm, but most in the 2 cm range) is a sprinkling of shiny golden pyrites. The dark matrix is mostly specular hematite. This is CLASSIC old mid-west material, rarely seen in such large plates! When I was a kid, we all wanted to just own a sample, 2-3 inches with a few good crystals. Something like this, I couldn't have imagined seeing. Also, it’s in remarkable preservation. Few miners here took care to collect and preserve specimens, apparently, and so not as much made it to the market when the mine was open as you might have expected.
9.7 x 4.9 x 4.8 cm. What you have is a cluster of calcite of the most INCREDIBLE and beautiful form, flowering on top of a natural base of glittery pyrite. The calcites are scalenohedral compound crystals whose faces consist of a myriad of lustrous, cut-glass-like subfaces. Peru turns out specimens by the ton, but rare and unique specimens such as this are just as hard to obtain and valuable from Peru as from anywhere. Never seen another like this.
4.5 x 4.3 x 3.3 cm. Well-crystallized Tsumeb pyrite is RARE! This EXCELLENT and AESTHETIC combination specimen consists of two, lustrous, brass-yellow pyrite rosettes nicely perched on sculptural, etched galena. Hidden on the side is a beautifully sharp, lustrous and striated, 9 mm, pyritohedron. Choice and uncommon Tsumeb material from the Rob Smith Collection.
14.6 x 8.2 x 5.4 cm. A rare South Dakota quartz cluster from this old mine. Contacted a bit at both ends, but mostly complete and really quite a striking 3-dimensional cluster. Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
9.6 x 8.2 x 5.6 cm. This specimen is an outstanding example of the classic combo you would dream of finding, though - a sharp, razor-edged pyrite cube perched dramatically in the center of a nest of undamaged quartz points. And, its on matrix of pyrite, as well. The pyrite association with quartz is what made this place famous and worth the trouble of going to - and the stark contrast of both form and color is among the more striking combinations in minerals. Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
7.6 x 7.6 x 4.4 cm. A large cluster of bright and brassy octahedrons of pyrite from the Huanazala Mine. The large crystal you see at the upper left measures 2.8 cm along the edge, and is sharp as a tack. Only a few bits of minor damage prevent it from being pristine, but its close. It is exceptional!
6.7 x 3.6 x 3.5 cm. This BIG octahedron of rare and sought-after pink fluorite (2.5 cm along the edge) has a rough look to it, but it is not from etching or contact: what you are seeing is reflection from thousands of micro-faces, sparkling back at you, on the main face surfaces. The interior is actually gemmy. This big crystal sits on a bed of sphalerite, which in turn is on a matrix of crystallized and massive pyrite. From a famous series of finds in the 1980s, and long in the collection of Dan Belsher who dealt a lot in Peruvian minerals at the time.
2.9 x 2.6 x 2.6 cm. This pyrite crystal out of the Ken Hollmann collection, as you can see, has just the most extraordinary and stunning form. It is an octahedron with little microfaces on all the main faces, segmented by shiny stepped edges where the faces meet! I think it is just a spectacular crystal specimen - an example of a very common mineral taking on a rare, striking, and very pretty form.
This Photo was Mindat.org Photo of the Day - 5th Dec 2009
4.2 x 3.9 x 3.2 cm. A GORGEOUS specimen of pyrite out of the collection of Gene Meieran from a lesser-known Peruvian locality. Obviously, Gene is not one to have just another Peruvian pyrite in his collection, and this certainly is not one! The crystals have this fantastic mirror-golden brilliance, in addition to these beautiful striations and ridge modifications on their faces. The overall aesthetics is wonderfully sculptural, too.
8.6 x 8.0 x 5.4 cm. The Ed David label that comes with this fascinating piece indicates that it was self-collected by John Medici in Ohio in 2002. There is not much I need to say about it - the photo pretty much say it all, except that not only is it extremely unusual, eye-catching and attractive - it is also really BIG! Technically you would call this a pyrite "concretion", with successive wrapping layers. But it reminds ME of a snail. UNIQUE!
6.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 cm. You are probably familiar with this locality for the big find of fluorite octahedrons a few years back. But have a look at these: ball-shaped aggregate clusters of brassy pyrite crystals, isolated on milky quartz crystals! The pyrite balls measure to one centimeter across. Another unique De’an discovery!
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Hübnerite, Pyrite, Quartz from Sweet Home Mine (Home Sweet Home Mine), Mount Bross, Alma District, Park Co., Colorado, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-156167a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-156167a.jpg)
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