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Mineral Specimens with Silver
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2.3 x 0.9 x 0.7 cm. A very robust curling rope of silver from the classic, old European locale. This one is, for a thumbnail, unusual in that you get the robust thickness but also some aesthetics in the curve and overall form. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
3.0 x 2.4 x 2.1 cm. Your basic, classic, sharp Mexican silver composed entirely of intergrown spinel-twinned silver crystals. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
3.4 x 2.1 x 1.3 cm. A very attractive, robust, fan-shaped spray of sharp silver crystals. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
4.0 x 3.4 x 0.4 cm. A beautifully sculptural and aesthetic curved and twisted composite silver wire from recent finds in China. The burnished, curves, twists and plaited look to this stout silver are very elegant and entrancing.
2.0 x 1.7 x 0.5 cm. An old-time, sculptural and aesthetic thumbnail of very sharp silver crystals with an excellent patina from the historic silver mines at Kongsberg. This superb old-time specimen was in the Carl Bosch and Smithsonian Collections. Carl Bosch was a very prominent European collector who lived from 1874-1940. He collected only pitstanding specimens and best of species that he could obtain. Unlike many of his time, he also collected superb thumbnails and paid special attention to them, so even his small items are very good by today's more stringent standards of aesthetics. The Smithsonian purchased his collection, which numbered 25,000 mineral specimens. The Bosch label number of 78 indicates a very early and old piece from his collection. Certainly prior to 1900. It’s rich on both sides with crystals of high quality.
3.7 x 2.3 x 1.2 cm. This piece is amazingly aesthetic for a Bolivian Silver. It is a fine, decent-sized (for this mine) group of crystalline Silver forming a very attractive specimen. It is certainly a great toenail specimen from a classic Bolivian locality. The mine at Porco is the oldest and most significant Silver mine in Bolivia, and obtaining specimens is next to impossible because miners rarely bring out anything for sale, as the mine is a large commercial production, and virtually everything goes into the crusher. Most everything that evades the crusher is usually taken out of Bolivia by a geologist who has an "in" at the mine, or sometimes some brave miners risk losing their jobs by sneaking out a handful of specimens to raise a little extra money to feed their families. I obtained this piece directly from the miners at Porco a few months ago (2009).
4.0 x 3.1 x 1.9 cm. A sharp and unusually thick, large example of this replacement for which Pribram is probably the single most famous locale in the world. The silver has completely replaced the earlier dyscrasite, including a robust, doubly terminated, 3-cm-long crystal in the center of this nicely-trimmed specimen. Old material from the personal collection of Pribram specialist Josef Vajdak, with his personal collection label (i.e. not his dealer stock).
4.8 x 2.7 x 1.0 cm. Very sharp, arborescent silver crystals form these old mines. Most such specimens date to the early 1900s, or late 1800s, although of course small pockets were found later in the mines and the dumps and there is no way to be sure without old labels. This is, regardless, a classic old-style and a fine miniature of American native silver crystals. They are thick, too, not flimsy at all.
14.9 x 4.8 x 4.3 cm. A very fine, highly unusual, very rich cabinet combination ore specimen from the famous Mansfeld Basin of Germany. A nicely burnished, slightly upturned, thin plate of native silver covers the black, bituminous, layered slate. The side view shows nodules and stringers of bright native copper. Very uncommon, very rich silver and copper ore from this ancient district, where mining started around 1200 and finally ceased in 1969. Weighs 257 grams.
5.5 x 3.7 x 2.8 cm. This fine, old silver appears to be a floater, with no visible points of attachment. It is composed of several exquisitely crystallized, dendritic, branching wires which culminate in crystals to 1.1 cm in length. The location, the historic Cliff Mine, was America’s first major copper mine, dating to the 1840’s. Silvers of this caliber are exceedingly scarce today, and tend to come out of museum collections and a few major private stashes only at this point.
4.2 x 2.9 x 1.5 cm. A crudely formed copper crystal with very minor prehnite has become the matrix for two very sharp, feather-like, aesthetic growths of native silver to 2.5 cm in length. This silver growth is reminiscent of classic specimens from this Kearsarge Amygdaloidal Lode. This combination of copper and silver, while not uncommon, makes for a superb minature because it IS uncommon in aesthetic specimens with well crystallized silver atop. Usually, the mixes are just lumps. Ex. John Durkos Collection.
An aesthetic and excellent specimen of bright spinel-twinned herringbone silver crystals , with a bit of matrix from the early 80s find at Batopilas, Mexico. 5.2 x 3.4 x 1.1 cm
7.9 x 5.1 x 3.4 cm. This is a beautiful specimen with arborescent, complex leaves of silver now altered to the nickel species skutterudite. Presumably an old specimen.
3.3 x 3.3 x 2.5 cm. Several small, sharp, sparkling, bright, elongated, dendritic Silver crystals sit atop a matrix of white Calcite. This specimen came out recently when a local collector was able to liberate some specimens from the dumps of this historic mine. The Balcoll Mine was worked as far back as the middle ages, so the fact that anything remained (even on the dumps) is amazing. A fine specimen with great character and aesthetics. Ex. Brian Kosnar Collection.
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.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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Mineral Specimens by species; or
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share specimen![Silver from Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257385a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257385a.jpg)
![Silver from New Nevada Mine (Nevada Valenciana), Cerro San Antonio, San Miguel, Batopilas, Andres del Rio District, Mun. de Batopilas, Chihuahua, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257447a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257447a.jpg)
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![Silver from Kearsarge Mine, Kearsarge, Houghton Co., Michigan, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-260431a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-260431a.jpg)
![Silver, Copper from Mansfeld Basin, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany [db_pics/mdpics/MD-261810a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-261810a.jpg)
![Silver, Copper from Mansfeld Basin, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany [db_pics/mdpics/MD-261810b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-261810b.jpg)
![Silver, Copper from Mansfeld Basin, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany [db_pics/mdpics/MD-261810c.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-261810c.jpg)
![Silver from Cliff mine, Phoenix, Keweenaw Co., Michigan, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-262097a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-262097a.jpg)
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![Silver from New Nevada Mine (Nevada Valenciana), Cerro San Antonio, San Miguel, Batopilas, Andres del Rio District, Mun. de Batopilas, Chihuahua, Mexico [db_pics/mdpics/MD-26311a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-26311a.jpg)
![Skutterudite, Silver from Coleman Township, Cobalt area, Cobalt-Gowganda region, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada [db_pics/mdpics/MD-263144a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-263144a.jpg)
![Silver, Calcite from Balcoll Mine, Falset, Priorat, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain [db_pics/mdpics/MD-263207a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-263207a.jpg)
![Silver, Calcite from Balcoll Mine, Falset, Priorat, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain [db_pics/mdpics/MD-263207b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-263207b.jpg)
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