Detailed information
Species
Baryte, Sphalerite
Dimensions
53 x 84 x 25
mm
Weight
130 g
Locality
Příbram District Central Bohemian Region Czech Republic
Condition
No recorded repairs
Good Baryte crystals are rare from the Příbram District in Bohemia, Czechia. This old-timer comes with a slightly damaged small old display label recording its provenance and association with Scharff (Adolf Friedrich Scharff, 1812-1881) who was a German mineralogist and curator at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt. At 4.5 cm in length, the main bladed Baryte crystal is in really great condition for its age, with a perfect chisel-shaped termination and excellent glassy undamaged sides up its entire length, but with the lower termination missing. It lies flat, spanning the surface of a large area of the specimen surface, which has probably afforded it more protection. Another nice, 1.5 cm tall, more upright terminated Baryte crystal has slight contact damage to its tip and two other larger crystals are entirely missing apart from their sheared-off bases. Many other much smaller Baryte crystals are scattered across the surface of the specimen which consists of a bed of finely crystallized Sphalerite coated with a layer of tiny Dolomite crystals. Overall, this is a very fine 19th century Baryte from this famous ancient mining district.
