Pyrite "sun"

Item Description

VERY RARE, pristine and impressive LARGE pyrite "sun" from Illinois. The radial appearance of the 'A' side is dramatically enhanced by the striking, flashy, golden/silvery chatoyant shimmer. The radial 'B' side has sparkly edges with a more muted, darker, sparkly interior. These highly unusual flattened specimens formed between an ancient bed of shale and clay and were found in underground Paleozoic-aged coal mines. The "suns" reached 15 cm and this is larger. Specimens over 11 cm are RARE, indeed. Totally unique to the American Midwest, these are now rare in any quality. These came out of an old stash and were collected in the 1980s and early 1990s. Specimens of this quality and size have been seen, rarely in recent years, at shows for $3000-5000. Smaller ones fetch musch less but this size here is really 1 in 1000 of what was found back then, and it is a superb example. The mystery of how they formed is still not well understood!