- CORN08
- Liroconite With Strashimirite
- Wheal Gorland, Gwennap, Cornwall, England
- Miniature, 4.3 x 3.2 x 2.0 cm
- Ex. Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts; Albert Chapman
- SOLD
This exquisite miniature features not one but THREE incredibly sharp crystals to 1 cm on edge, absolutely pristine and razor-honed on edges. It is thus, for the size and quality of the liroconite as well as their display aesthetics, a major specimen in every regard (quality, size, showiness). The minute white material richly coating the upper surface of the specimen is strashimirite (very rare!). It is exceedingly rich, for this secondary mineral, alone. But the liroc, contrasted with the spotted white background, is all the more impressive. This specimen was collected in the 1850s in all likelihood. Baroness Burdett-Coutts was a major collector active in the late 1800s, who travelled extensively and acquired many rarities and locality pieces. I believe this is oustanding, and must be one of the better pieces not in a museum.