Detailed information
Species
Pyrite
Dimensions
42 x 75 x 38
mm
Weight
144 g
Locality
No 5 Lode, 360' Level South Crofty Mine, Pool Carn Brea, Cornwall, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
This is quite a distinctive Pyrite from Cornwall and has a fine history to it based on its four accompanying labels. The earliest label is from Richard 'Dick' Barstow - one of Britain's all-time great mineral dealers, but who tragically died young in the early 1980s. His label (a green stock label) provides his first address at Tregaseal, St. Just, dating it to the mid- to early 1970s. This documents the specimen very specifically as from No. 5 lode, 360 fms level, South Crofty mine. It then passed to collector John L. White (no. 1278), dealer Nick Carruth and onto collector Malcolm Southwood (no. MS 2002.034). The Pyrite forms golden, ball-like spherical aggregates composed of scaly crystals. Individually, the 'balls' reach over 1 cm in diameter and they are fresh, with no signs of Pyrite decay.