Detailed information
Species
Eulytine
Dimensions
17 x 18 x 31
mm
Weight
6 g
Locality
Johanngeorgenstadt Erzgebirge, Saxony Germany
Condition
No recorded repairs
The rare bismuth silicate species, Eulytine, was first described from Schneeberg in Saxony, Germany two centuries ago, indicated by its non-standard name-ending, not using 'ite'. Despite its general appearance as smaller crystals, or microcrystals, its often sharply crystallized morphology is one of its most striking features, particularly with magnification. Now recorded from quite a number of mines in the vicinity of Schneeberg, and in particular around Neustädtel, it is also known elsewhere in Saxony, including at the famous old silver mining town of Johanngeorgenstadt where this specimen comes. Very small miniature in size an open-textured Quartz matrix features several very glossy and well-formed deep brown 'spiky' clusters of Eulytine microcrystals, the largest group reaching about 2 mm in diameter. It is from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) but also bears a pink printed number label (4414) from an earlier collector. Specimens of Eulytine from Johanngeorgenstadt are much rarer than those from Schneeberg, but this one ably demonstrates the quality of the crystals.