Detailed information
Dimensions
53 x 70 x 40
mm
Weight
277 g
Locality
Panasqueira Mine Covilhã, Castelo Branco District Portugal
Condition
No recorded repairs
With all the exceptionally crystallized specimens that have come out from Panasqueira mine over the years, Siderite is perhaps the one that is most overlooked and yet its crystal forms are magnificent. Mined sometime prior to 1998, this wonderful biscuit-coloured Siderite shows strikingly unusual short hexagonal prisms aggregated over a dense black bladed Ferberite crystal. At certain angles the Siderite crystals display a wonderful silky sheen and are colour-zoned with slightly darker centres and paler sides. Under magnification it is seen that the sides of these Siderite crystals are porous, perhaps naturally etched, but providing a really interesting form. Around the sides of the specimen two, or three of the Siderite crystals are fractured, but on the main display face the crystals are in excellent condition and a very light dusting of Pyrite provides flashes of gold. Small cabinet in size this is a very sweet Siderite, full of distinctive character.
