Native Bismuth with Skutterudite, Erythrite, etc.

Item Description

Here we have an old-time association specimen from Schlema in Saxony, Germany featuring somewhat brassy colored crystals of Native Bismuth embedded in gray Skutterudite (formerly Smaltite) associated with soft purplish-pink Erythrite. It should be noted that I found another specimen on mindat.org that states this pink mineral is actually Bieberite, but I'm not an expert on minerals from Schlema, so I'm going with what's on the label. The label accompanying the piece states that Chloanthite and Annabergite are present on the specimen, but I cannot confirm this after looking the piece over with a loupe. They may be microscopic, and difficult to see without stronger magnification. It's a dense specimen for the size, weighing 464 grams (just over a 1 pound). From the worldwide mineral collection of Albert Lewis Kidwell (January 1, 1919 - August 16, 2008). Al was a well-known mineral collector and research geologist with Carter Oil Company and later Exxon Oil Company in Houston, Texas. The phosphate species Kidwellite was named in his honor in 1974.