Poughite (ultra rare tellurite) & Tellurium

Item Description

Poughite is an ultra-rare iron, tellurite and is named after the well-known American mineralogist, curator and author, Fred Pough. Yellow microcrystals and crusts of poughite richly cover both sides of the sliver of matrix on this miniature. Poughite is extremely rare from this less well-known New Mexico mine, which is also host to several other very rare tellurium species. This is a VERY INTERESTING and rare combination piece, as one end of the matrix has embedded, silvery native tellurium spheroids to 2 mm. The pockmarks on either side of the piece once held more tellurium!