Detailed information
Species
Pyrargyrite
Dimensions
28 x 34 x 18
mm
Locality
Schlema-Hartenstein District Erzgebirge Saxony, Germany
Condition
No recorded repairs
The Schlema-Hartenstein District in Saxony, Germany, is a silver and uranium mining region. This fine large thumbnail is richly coated with well developed, blocky crystals of the silver-antimony sulphosalt Pyrargyrite to 1.2 x 1.0 x 1.0 cm, all attractively embedded yet well exposed from a bed of micro-granular Pyrite or Chalcopyrite, probably the latter. This is a particularly attractive Pyrargyrite because despite its part surface alteration to a silver-lead-grey oxidation film, much of the actual blood-red colour pervades, so producing a tantalisingly delicious silver-red patina. A lovely specimen of this highly collectable silver sulphosalt from Saxony.