Cinnabar ("nugget") (rare locality specimen) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

A really unusual "nugget"-like specimen of nearly solid red Cinnabar from the Deep Gulch Placer near New Almaden, California. This locality obviously gets its name from Almaden, Spain, which was one of the richest Mercury deposits in all of Europe. This locality was small and only operated from 1945 to 1947. This is honestly the first specimen of this material that we've had to offer in the auctions, and if you collect California minerals, this is an exceptionally rare chance to pick up a piece of something that is virtually impossible to find on the market now. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#11589). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).