Detailed information
Species
Calcite, Quartz, Galena
Dimensions
142 x 130 x 55
mm
Locality
Wheal Wrey St Ive, Liskeard District Cornwall, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
This remarkable larger cabinet-sized display Calcite is both a Cornish classic and a historically important piece too. Firstly, it is from Wheal Wrey in Liskeard District, Cornwall, famous amongst British Calcite occurrences for its distinctive elongated prism-like crystals, the larger ones of which are often twinned, and the smaller ones which are thin and needle-like in form. This particular specimen presents both, but in a sculptural arrangement with ledges, or widows, into the specimen, formed by what appears to be dissolution cavities, or casts of a long-since gone mineral coated in Quartz. The Calcite crystals have then grown inwards into these chambers. Minor Galena is seen within the Quartz. A delicate, outstanding and fascinating piece, and perhaps why it was owned by the famous Victorian polymath, John Ruskin, whose remaining collection is preserved at Brantwood, near Coniston, Cumbria.
