Pyrargyrite (classic material)

Item Description

Fresnillo is one of the great silver producers in the history of Mexico, along with being a source of some of the most famous and important specimens of various silver sulfides and sulfosalts. Arguably the finest Pyrargyrite specimens ever found are from Fresnillo. I would say it's quite difficult to get your hands on good specimens of Pyrargyrite from Fresnillo these days. This piece is a fairly good quality thumbnail featuring semi-lustrous, well-formed, silvery-black colored, prismatic trigonal Pyrargyrite crystals free of matrix. When the piece is are backlit, small areas show the classic and highly desirable blood red hue for which Pyrargyrite is known. This red color that appears within the silvery colored crystals has given this species the nickname "Ruby Silver" (along with Proustite, Miagyrite and Pearceite). There are some small imperfections on the piece, but it's still in good shape overall, and actually shows some interesting etching patterns in areas. A really attractive specimen of this classic and highly sought after material.