TUC8-121
Pucherite on Bismutite
Brejauba, Mato Dentro, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Small Cabinet, 6.7 x 4.6 x 2.7 cm
Ex. Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences
SOLD
Pucherite from Germany is known for its rarity and desirability for collectors of extremely rare species - it is a bismuth vanadate. I have never seen for sale any crystals above 1mm, myself. This specimen, as with the best German pieces I have handled, has crystals to this size. However, they are fiery red and lustrous in this case, not dark brown as with the Pucher Mine classics. Myself, I have also never seen a Brazilian pucherite except a few insignificant micros before. This one redefined my expectations for the species, completely! This specimen is LOADED with the crystals, spread in veins throughout surprisingly heavy matrix which is rich in bismuth (and said to be bismutite on an accompanying old label). To maximize value, of course, the piece could easily be trimmed I nhalf and yield two equally valuable examples, I would think, worth the same as the whole given their richness overall. The crystals occur singly or in clusters. Ex Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, probably from the early 1900s. NOTE: Mark Feinglos examined this sample for dukeite, as this was the material in which the species was discovered (by him) from an old specimen. Although it does not have dukeite, he did confirm its incredible richness, and the association within this mass of almost every other bismuth species from the locality.