Plumbogummite (rare ''casts'')

Item Description

Plumbogummite for the most part was not often seen in collectible display specimens until the superb pieces from the Yangshuo Mine hit the market. The top pieces from this mine are certainly the best examples of the species ever seen, in terms of quantity, quality, color and size, and will go down as classics. They truly do not get enough credit for what they are in my mind. This cabinet sized specimen is a wonderful piece of this superb quality material featuring a rich coverage of translucent spherical / botryoidal Plumbogummite "balls" covering the entire display side of the underlying matrix. There are a few spots of bright greenish-yellow Pyromorphite that can be see on the underside of the specimen. This piece has the odd distinction of forming "casts" (epimorphs / perimorphs) after an unknown mineral. The "casts" are hollow striated cavities, and my first thought was that they replaced something like Anhydrite, as I've seen similar formations where other minerals have replaced Anhydrite, leaving the same kind of narrow striated hollow forms, but I can't say for certain what the preexisting mineral could have been. Overall, the piece is in good shape, but there are some contacted areas, so it's not pristine, but the strange "casts", make it very desirable and certainly rare. These specimens are becoming very hard to find on the market now, as nothing has come out of this locality for a few years.