Proustite

Item Description

The Uchucchacua Mine in Peru is one of world's most well-known silver mines, yielded some iconic specimens over the years. Some of the best Proustites from South America are found at this mine. This piece is a good example of said material featuring somewhat blocky trigonal, metallic grey crystals of Proustite measuring up to 1.1 cm on matrix. Proustite is one the few "Ruby Silver" minerals, and you can see bright red highlights on the edge of the specimen where it has been contacted and separated from the pocket wall. Even the crystal when backlit, show a little bit of a deep blood red hue. The piece is not completely undamaged, but there are several excellent, euhedral crystals that can be seen, and the overall size of the piece with a rich coverage of Proustite is well above average for the Uchucchacua Mine. Valued $1,250.
Ex Colin Manlove collection.