Detailed information
Species
Witherite, Alstonite
Dimensions
62 x 70 x 38
mm
Weight
160 g
Locality
Fallowfield Mine, Acomb Hexham, Tyne Valley Northumberland, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
Custom Stand
Yes - custom stand included
Pyramidal Witherite crystals, or more correctly pyramidal cyclically twinned Witherite crystals, are a thing of rare beauty and are amongst the most sought after of northern English classic minerals. Infact, they have been valuable ever since this unusual crystal form was discovered during the 1820s at Fallowfield mine. This small cabinet-sized display specimen is a phenomenon, featuring not only large pyramidal and bipyramidal twinned crystals, but lots of them too, arranged aesthetically upon an Alstonite-coated sandstone matrix. The largest bipyramidal Witherite crystals are 3.7 cm and 3.7 cm long respectively and are in really great shape. One or two of the crystals have very slight chips to their terminations, but the sharpness of detail seen within the stepped pyramidal sides of these crystals is quite exceptional. The Alstonite forms extensive thin layers of tiny bipyramidal microcrystals - Fallowfield being the Co-Type Locality for Alstonite, as it was discovered there at the same time as at Brownley Hill mine, in 1834. This specimen comes with a custom made Sunnywood acrylic display stand. A Witherite of the very highest order of quality.