Large Acanthite xls (old - classic locale) Robertson Coll.

Item Description

Large, sharp, RARE acanthite crystals from St Andreasberg. Acanthite/argentite specimens are rare from the famous and historic mines at Andreasberg, even though it was one of the most widespread silver ore minerals. It was always encountered in very small quantities (Mineralogical Record St. Andreasberg Special Issue, May-June, 2017, Vol. 48, No. 3, P. 329). LARGE, sharp, matte lustre, cuboctahedral crystals, to 1.3 cm, are attractively and densely clustered atop the blocky miniature massive quartz matrix. Argentite is the high-temperture paramorph of acanthite and is not stable at room temperature. Ex Kay Robertson Collection # 3775 and acquired from Dr. Werner Lieber, prominent German mineral photographer and author in Europe in 1964. Kay assembled a nice suite of classics and rarities from this famed district. 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). VERY RARE, SELDOM on the market, highly desirable large acanthite crystals and undoubtedly old-time.