Kermesite (classic material) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

This historic antimony region in Slovakia has produced some of the most well known and classic Kermesite specimens in history. The species gets its name from the word "kermes", deriving from the Persian qurmizq, for "crimson", as these crystals exhibit an intense red/crimson color under strong lighting. Even though the crystals may look metallic in reflected light, this is one of the few sulfides that actually shows color when backlit! This specimen hosts beautiful a 1.5 cm crystallized "spray" of good quality, thin, prismatic, sharp, lustrous, metallic/gemmy "needles" on matrix. It is one of the better specimens of this well known material that I have offered in the auctions recently. Valued at $500. From the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016) with a label from Czech and Slovak mineral expert Josef Vajdak. David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered.