UTR21-70
Native Arsenic with Stibnite and Calcite
Kusa Mine, Bau Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia
Cabinet, 12.3 x 8.7 x 4.8 cm
Ex. Herb Obodda
$9,500.00 $7,125.00
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For a museum, or display of native elements, you cannot find CRYSTALLIZED native arsenic readily, beyond thumbnail size. This is a major and significant example of this native element. The Kusa Mine has produced some good Stibnite and Realgar specimens, however, Native Arsenic specimens are few and far between and this is an exceptional piece! Several dark gray, rugged Native Arsenic "stalagmites" are in vertical orientation on this large and hefty piece. The elongate knobs of Arsenic have a myriad of small, spiky protrusions emanating from them resulting in their rough and intriguing texture. The matrix consists of Native Arsenic and some minor white Calcite as streaks through the Arsenic and as druses of tiny white to colorless crystals in the small vugs around the piece. As an added bonus, there are even prismatic crystals of Stibnite to 1.5 cm within two of the larger vugs on the specimen. All of these characteristics combine to produce a uniquely sculptural piece from a little known locality in Malaysia. The small Kusa open pit mine and surface workings are developed in an epithermal gold-arsenic-antimony deposit on the island of Borneo where mining dates back to the mid-1800s. Ex. Herb Obodda collection (#1178) with label.