Cassiterite (cyclic twins) (old classic)

Item Description

A wonderful old classic Cassiterite specimen from Horní Slavkov (formerly Schlaggenwald) featuring attractive, sharp, jet-black, cyclic twinned crystals with minor tan Muscovite. The Cassiterites feature the iconic narrow "helmet"-shaped form along with adamantine luster. The largest Cassiterite measures 2.1 cm long. There are some contacted areas, so the piece is not damage-free, but it's still a pretty good example of what are some of the most well-known examples of Cassiterite from this historic European locality. From the collection of Brian Kosnar, who obtained it from the collection of Willard W. Wulff (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. . The piece comes with a typed 3x5 index card label from Wulff that states the piece was sold to him by the legendary mineral dealer from Colorado Springs, Lazard Cahn (1865-1940) who was the namesake for the rare mineral, Cahnite. As a matter of fact, the tombstone where Cahn is buried in Colorado was actually carved into a giant Cahnite crystal! (see https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMXMW2_Lazard_Cahn_Scientist_Colorado_Springs_CO) . Great pedigree on this one, certainly hard to find a piece with such wonderful documentation from this prestigious locale.