Detailed information
Species
Ferberite
Dimensions
26 x 35 x 27
mm
Locality
Herja Mine Chiuzbaia, Baia Mare Maramureș, Romania
Condition
No recorded repairs
Not so long ago we used to refer to Ferberite as Wolframite, but those simpler days are now gone! Ferberite is the iron (Fe) end-member of the manganese-iron wolframite solid solution series, the Mn end being H'bnerite. This delightful large thumbnail has a 1.9 x 0.9 x 0.3 cm black Ferberite bladed crystal, with a bright reflective metallic lustre, standing vertical on a mixed Galena and Pyrite matrix coated with snow-white Calcite crystals. The Calcites are themselves superb, forming individual, highly distorted and flattened rhombohedrons, which stack to create vermiform (worm-shaped) chains which criss-cross the matrix's surface.