Detailed information
Species
Hessite, Sphalerite, Quartz
Dimensions
70 x 121 x 50
mm
Locality
Anna Mine Botești (Boteș), Zlatna Alba Co., Romania
Condition
No recorded repairs
Hessite, silver telluride, is one of the rarest and most valuable of Romanian mineral species to acquire for specimens from Anna mine at Botes in Alba Co. are light-years ahead of anywhere else in the world in terms of their magnificence in crystal size and form. Cabinet in size, and eminently displayable, this breathtaking Hessite features a 0.5 to 2 cm thick bed of terminated white needle Quartz crystals upon which a ridge-like 6 cm long (by 1.4 cm wide) line of dark pewter-grey rounded, molten-looking Hessite crystals rise up above a partially hidden line of slightly gemmy Sphalerite crystals. A second area, 1 x 1 cm in extent features the same combination of Hessite upon Sphalerite. One small (7 mm long) cluster of Hessite crystals appears to have been reattached to the main line of crystals at some point, but this repair is only noticeable under magnifcation. The main Quartz bed sits upon pale grey sulphide-rich rock matrix. Ex Professor Werner Paar Collection and Ex Wein Collection (no. 2173) in Stuttgart, Germany.