Cerussite imitating Baryte (twinned crystals)

Item Description

The Mibladen area is famous for producing the world's finest Vanadinites extant, but I think most people would agree that the second most-well known species from Mibladen in Cerussite, which is typically found in unusual morphologies compared to the majority of other world localities. When I first picked up this specimen, I though it was a Baryte, based both on the heft and the blocky formation of the crystals. Upon close inspection, I could see something didn't look quite right for Baryte, and it was in fact a Cerussite. The accompanying label from the prestigious Gene Sensel collection confirmed by intuition and then I spent a few minutes marveling at the uniqueness and beauty of the piece. First off, the specimen is nearly a complete "floater", virtually crystallized on all sides, and it's not just a group of intergrown crystals, but it's actually TWINNED! If you look on the reverse side you can see several "flanges" of additional Cerussite in a reticulated twinning formation, giving the piece character and beautiful visercal appeal. As a matter of fact the smaller crystal on the front the piece features tightly intergrown faces, which are also twinned. All sides of the specimen feature wonderfully lustrous and well-formed faces, and the color ranges from a smoky hue to a muted golden color. With strong backlighting, the piece does show some decent internal translucency as well. Like most Cerussites from this locality, this piece shows a good yellow fluorescence under SW UV light. No major damage anywhere, just a few tiny points of attachment on the back where it was separated from the pocket wall. A really attractive, distinctive and unique specimen compared to many other's we've had from the Dalles Mine.
Ex Robert ("Bob") Nowakowski collection (#RN528). Valued $3,000.