Pyrargyrite ex. Willard Perkin Coll.

Item Description

This is an excellent example of translucent gem-red pyrargyrite from one of the more rare and hard to get locales, in an old silvre-mining district of Bolivia. Note a BOLIVIAN pyrargyrite is MUCH MUCH more uncommon and likely to be older as well, than seemingly similar material from Mexico. Actually, I would bet that most of us will never see one of these in person, as they turn up only rarely and from very old collections. I believe they were collected prior to the 1940s, and some would date back far earlier still to the late 1800s (as I have seen them turn up in some very old collections such as GJ Brush's at Yale). This beautiful specimen has great metallic, glassy luster and intense color when backlit. It has a complex, unusual termination and is complete all around. It really sparkles - it is not a dull, blackish mineral by any means. Willard Perkin was a well known California collector, who invented the so-called Perky Box we use for standard thumbnail display today. His collection was well known, and this piece comes with his special display label, which would have been mounted in front of the piece in one of his plastic boxes. Valued $2500-ish. Also, it is quite hefty at 35 grams of raw silver ore, here