Detailed information
Species
Native Silver
Dimensions
43 x 54 x 14
mm
Weight
52 g
Locality
Glasberg quarry, Nieder-Beerbach Mühltal, Darmstadt-Dieburg Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany
Condition
No recorded repairs
This lovely flattened Native Silver specimen is from Glasberg quarry, Nieder-Beerbach, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. During the 1990s lenses of sulphides and veins containing Baryte and silver and mercury ores were encountered in the gabbro at this quarry. Many fine specimens of Native Silver were collected and reportedly the operating company later (in 2009) made 250 silver medals weighing an ounce each from material collected "many years previously". This very rich specimen is from the superb systematic collection assembled by Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021). It is quite a thick mass, rather than 'leaf' Native Silver, and appears to represent a complete vein section with possible slickenside movement lines on one side. There also appears to be a small amount of matrix intergrown within the Native Silver. Texturally, the Native Silver looks very much like the mercurian variety Kongsbergite which is well-known from Glasberg quarry but it has not been analysed. A modern German classic.