Marcasite

Item Description

Highly aesthetic iridescent star-shaped cluster, or possibly a single twinned crystal! This is one of the most famous minerals in the collection, with pictures online and in publications; and with numerous friends who wanted to obtain it. We held this back from Round 1 of the collection release in 2023, saving for this auction in 2024 to give all a chance. It has a unique shape and look to it...regardless of species, it is compelling. We used to call them pyrites back in the 1980s when they were coming out, but most labels are now going with marcasite based on later analysis and study. That being said, it is also the most photographed and known example of this material, I would bet - even though it is unique among others and divergent from the norm. Most of these form as round suns/discs...this is unique among thousands we have seen, and came out a long time ago. Photoed: Minerals: The Collector’s Newspaper, 2014; 8: 18 (Mark Mauthner photo); The Mineralogical Record, Arizona Mineral Collections, 2020; 51(1): 157.; and also featured in the book by Mineralogical Record; Refined Elegance: Nov-Dec 2022 (page 122) (Scovil photo). Nobody knows what this is worth on the market, only that it was among the top specimens requested and desired by many collectors for a long time, while it resided in Alex Schauss' large suite of pyrite/marcasite specimens as the "star" of the case.