A large, solid specimen of pure native silver, with very bright and sharp crystals flaring from the top of the specimen like flames. It is dramatic in person! This piece is complete on both sides. It masses 137 grams. Most such specimens are old pieces from the heyday of the distract, mid 1800s to early 1900s, though sadly there is no way now to be sure when this came out. It is said to be from the Cliff mine, by attribution to style and habit. ex Ed David collection

This specimen is one of the most elegant examples I have seen in a long time, from the famous early 1980s finds at the New Nevada Mine in the old Batopilas silver District. These specimens were brought to market by John Whitmire at the time. Steven Sinotte was a collector and part-time dealer at the old Desert Inn when they came out, and obtained this for his collection in the early picks. It is elegantly balanced, on just the right amount of calcite matrix pedestal. It shows a CLASSIC, and very fine, herringbone pattern of crystallized spinel-twinned silver crystals interlinked with one another. The crystal cluster is robust, not fragile and "bendy" as are so many from these finds (particularly from silvers found a few years later). This specimen was pictured in the Mineralogical Record article on the find, in 1982: Mineralogical Record vol 12, May-June, page 178, figure 6. It has remained in his collection, and that of his wife, noted glassmaker Rebecca Stewart, ever since a few weeks after it was mined in the early 1980s. Comes with a lucite base for custom display