Phosgenite (fine classic material) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

The famous Monteponi Mine is a world-renowned lead-zinc-silver mine on the island of Sardinia. Early mining dates back as far as 1324 (but certainly goes back much further) and continued on and off until 1992. The most desirable and well-known species from this locality is Phosgenite, beloved for it large crystals of superior quality. This wonderful miniature features a broad, sharp, prismatic 2.8 cm, semi-transparent Phosgenite crystal aesthetically set on an oxidized matrix. The crystal is actually doubly-terminated, and even shows a bit of a "cat's eye" effect on the edges when rotated in the light. A classic specimen with textbook crystal form. Very minor damage can be seen, but it's incredibly difficult to obtain good Phosgenite crystals with zero damage from Monteponi. From the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016) David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered. The piece is accompanied by a few old dealer tags along with a typed label from an unknown collection. Please see the article in the Mineralogical Record which details this amazing locality, and specimens like this are not common on the market. Priced at $2,500.