Acanthite with Stephanite (ex Franceso Bedogne Collection)

Item Description

A classic specimen of the world famous Acanthites from Fresnillo. Fairly sharp, well-formed, brilliantly metallic, silvery colored modified crystals of Acanthite measuring up to 7 mm are associated with minor Stephanite on Quartz and host rock matrix. The piece has a slender form and displays well as you can see from the photos. A cool old piece from this historic silver producing region. PLEASE NOTE: There are some people that label these specimens (and Acanthite in general) as being pseudomorphs after Argentite, but they are technically paramorphs as Acanthite will actually transform into Argentite in an environment where the temperature reaches above 177 degrees Celsius, but they are not pseudomorphs. From the worldwide collection of famed Italian mineral collector, field collector and author, Francesco Bedogne of Sondrio, Italy (Collection #1873). Bedogne wrote dozens of articles and several books about the mineralogy of Italian Alpine localities such as Val Bregaglia, Val Masino, Val Codera, Val Spluga, Valtellina and the famous Val Malenco. He was also the founder of the Valtellinese Mineralogical Institute.