Native Mercury on Cinnabar (ex Al Kidwell Collection)

Item Description

A really cool old piece from the famous Almadén Mine in Spain featuring TINY metallic spots of Native Mercury sitting atop crimson colored crystallize Cinnabar on matrix. You don't see a lot of Native Mercury in nature, and it's usually found in association with other mercury-bearing minerals, as it will precipitate out of species like Cinnabar. For reference, mindat.org states that approximately 1/3 of all the Mercury in the world has come from Almadén. Be sure to check out the excellent article in the 2019 Mineralogical Record, Vol. 50, No. 1 about this locality. 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 ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-3... ).