Serpierite with Ktenasite
stock #8 GRC-1006
Kamereza Mines, Aglos Konstantinos
Attiki Prefecture Laurion District,
Greece
10.7 x 7 CM (cabinet)
price: $200
A bright, sparkling and very 3 dimensional piece of these two rare minerals from the classic locality of Laurion. Excellent coverage and color. Serpierite is a sky blue hydrated sulfate and the mid member of the Deviline and Rapidcreekite series. It is nice to have a rare mineral that is also cabinet sized and pretty since this is usually available just as micro specimens!
If you are familiar with Kesterites, this should take your breath away! A world class single crystal (a full inch in size!) that is both incredibly huge for the specie, and also remarkably sharp! This is by far the largest single crystal I have seen though I have heard of one other in this size range, Kesterite is very rare, and the Xuebaoding discovery has yielded the worlds best specimens. This one is in a class by itself, much like a textbook model. The large octahedron is contacted on the backside but the front is complete and has great patina. Collected about 6 years ago, there is no more coming now from the area, this will rank as a truly great piece.
Bournonite cogswheel
stock #6.2-891
Yaogangxian Tungsten Mine, Yizhang County
Hunan,
China
3.4 x 2.6 CM (small miniature/ large thumbnail (toenail))
price: $400
We have all seen a lot of Bournonite from Yaoganxian, some is world class, but most has a lot of serious damage. Clean examples of this brittle mineralare quite rare, and to find a nearly pristine "cogswheel" type that is crystalized all around (floater) is very special. This complex cluster has excellent mirror bright metallic luster, great form and esthetics. Very careful examination shows a few hard to find chips all under 1 mm in size, not distracting at all. For some reason, there have been more single, prismatic type crystals from Yaogangxian, this example looks much more English than Chinese! Super reasonable !
