Chalcopyrite with Quartz (ex Brian Lloyd Specimen)

Item Description

A beautiful display specimen of the classic Chalcopyrites from Banska Stiavnica. The piece hosts several sharp, well-formed, bright golden colored crystals of Chalcopyrite measuring up to 5 mm across which are sitting atop grey-white Quartz matrix. Minor golden-brown Siderite gropus can be seen here and there for a nice touch. One of the very few specimens of this classic material that I have offered in the auctions. This locality dates back over 2,000 years, as the first mining settlement was founded by Celts in the 3rd century BC. The piece comes from Brian Lloyd of London, one of the preeminent European mineral dealers. Among other accomplishments, Brian was responsible for bringing the Sir Robert Ferguson collection to market, along with the Joseph Neeld collection (1789-1856) in 1974 and the historic gold collection of H.S. Gordon. Brian famously purchased the historic dealership formerly known as J.R. Gregory & Company - today known as Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd. The catalogue number on this specimen is 897. It was originally labeled as coming from "Hungary", but a note on the label states that it "has the Schemnitz look".