Crocoite (Bob Reynolds Coll.)

Item Description

Classic rich orange-red, lustrous, translucent crocoite crystals are clustered and isolated on the very sculptural vuggy gossan marix on this impressive small cabinet from the famous Adelaide Mine of Tasmania. The striking vug looks like a mined out stope in a mine with remaining red oxide-tinted wood suport "beams" still in place or have fallen over (the large 1.8 cm prism). The top of the piece is dramatically peppered with smaller crocoite crystal sections, a super complement. The old silver-lead mines of the Dundas field, especially the Adelaide and Red Lead mines have intermittently produced world-class crocoite specimens since the 1890s. The Adelaide Mine has produced superb specimens in the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s. See the 2012 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 43, No. 6. The crocoite crystals are better protected in this fine and artistic matrix example.