Cerussite

Item Description

This is a HUGE Tsumeb Cerussite specimen! It is old material, certainly from the 1950s or earlier. This monster has a weight of 4 pounds (!!!). It is just over five inches in length and nicely twinned, and on a large scale! It is textbook in form with an off-white color and adamantine luster. If you want a prime example of a large Cerussite from Tsumeb this is it! This will command attention in any display of prominent specimens, Tsumeb or otherwise! This monster has a mass of 1.8 kilos! Note it is nearly complete, with just some relatively small damages and a few contacts on the lower sides. It is doubly-terminated, as a bonus. The crystal is so big and heavy, it is hard to hold in a hand, and you really do not expect the weight when it lands. It looks very different from other Tsumeb cerussites. In part, this is because of its age. Erika Pohl was a strong collector already by the 1950s, and this is a low number, 6150, in the collection which had over 100,000 specimens by the early 2000s. This dates the piece to the very earliest workings in the middle levels of Tsumeb, or it could even be an older specimen from the early 1900s era. In any case, it formed her early core of Tsumeb specimens, which was to become a lifelong pursuit over 60 years (ending at over 10,000 Tsumeb pieces in the collection). Even with all the later additions, this remained a favorite and was prominently on display in the main Tsumeb room of her home, for decades. It is impossible to assess a value easily to such an old, large, rare specimen but we can only say we would rather have this, than multiple lesser specimens you often see for sale at shows, from more common and recent finds.