Cuprite with Quartz - circa 1894

Item Description

Pieces from Cornwall, England aren't common and this is a good specimen of Cuprite and Quartz from Wheal Muttrall. The black-red Cuprite crystals average 6 mm in size and are dominated by sharp, octahedral forms and clustered amongst themselves and together with the contrasting white subhedral Quartz. Backlighting reveals the rich wine red color of the Cuprite! This piece was almost certainly collected in the early to mid-1800s as it has a very old hand-written label attached to the bottom dated 1894 and noting provenance from the previous collection of Knobelsdorff with two "f"s , possibly same-named Prussian ambassador in Istanbul, at the same rough time, the Colonel Baron Friedrich von Knobelsdorff or one of his family.