Acanthite with Silver

Item Description

A beautiful and eye-catching thumbnail specimen from the Hongda Mine, which is perhaps the most famous Silver mine in China. This locality has produced some of, if not the finest Silver specimens from Asia. It has excellent crystal form comprising sharp, well-formed individual crystals. The piece also hosts tiny wires of Native Silver and displays well from either side. Please note, sometimes these specimens are labeled as "Argentite" or pseudomorphs after Argentite, but this is not correct because Argentite cannot exist at our current atmospheric pressure below 177C, so all of these silver sulfide specimens are Acanthite (paramorphic after Argentite). This piece shows classic beautifully stacked and branching, monoclinic (pseudocubic) crystals forming a great overall specimen. Valued at $500.