Friday Update – Pyromorphite

AS the weekend approaches we bring you our second update of the week and I take you back to my childhood with a mineral instrumental in my mineral collecting journey.

As a teenager, Pyromorphite was one of the first species to catch my attention. It was a mineral seemingly far removed visually from the main lead-bearing mineral I knew – shiny grey metallic Galena – and yet it still possessed that notable density indicative of some hidden metallic element.

Not only that, but it could form well-defined hexagonal prisms, or globular masses, and in a variety of colours (yellows, greens, oranges and browns) which caused plenty of confusion to the inexperienced collector. On rare occasions the crystals would even show zonation, with a pronounced change in colour.

Then came the lustre, the surface sheen, which could present a seemingly permanent ‘wet’ appearance – resinous, or greasy using technical speak.

It even has a name that conjures visions of magical experiments – ‘Pyro’ meaning fire, and ‘Morph’ meaning a change in form, from its melting in intense heat and recrystallization as it cools.

The specimens offered in today’s update encompass the world of Pyromorphite, but you will notice a strong bias towards Germany. This reflects the significant quality of historic Pyromorphite specimens from that country and Crystal Classics’ links with there.

Other specimens worthy of additional praise are the magnificent large Spanish specimen from El Horcajo mine, a legendary early 20th century occurrence rarely seen outside of major Spanish museum collections and the even larger brown Pyromorphite from Milton Lavers’ Broken Hill suite from Australia. These are both specimens for the advanced collector who demands the very best specimens that a mine has produced.

There are also smaller specimens in this update, providing a broader variety.

Thank you for all of the positive comments about our new website. We are running constant checks and adding additional functionality to make the user experience the best it can possibly be.

Next week, our Tuesday update will feature a traditional favourite of our customers – rare species. In the meantime, have a super weekend.