Hutchinsonite (rare) & Orpiment (Kay Robertson Coll.)

Item Description

Hutchinsonite is a rare thallium, lead, arsenic sulfosalt. This famous Peru mine is well-known for excellent combination specimens including hutchinsonite, orpiment and other species. This is a fine, showy and rich combination example. A few lustrous, metallic-gray lathes, to about 6 mm, are noted in the sulfide-lined vug dramatically surrounded by botryoids of rich burnt-orange orpiment needles. The scattered bruising to the orpiment is noted, but this remains an excellent and rich example of the combination species from the famous Quiruvilca Mine. The underlying matrix is pyrite and quartz. Collected in the late 1970s and early 1980s, these are considered to be the world's finest examples of this very rare species. Ex Kay Robertson Collection # 10150. Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record).