Pyromorphite (unusual style for the locality)

Item Description

The famous Les Farges Mine in France is one of the premier localities for Pyromorphite in the world. The mine closed in 1981 (mindat) and the quality and color of the top specimens from this mine has stood up well in the subsequent decades. Typically the specimens from this locality are a strong green hue, but THIS piece has a notably different shade for Les Farges, as the crystals show a combination of a reddish-orange tone along the prisms, with a lighter orange color on the terminations. I'm not 100% convinced this is purely Pyromorphite, and it very well could be a transition into Mimetite, at least partially, though it hasn't been analyzed to know for sure. There are dozens of the crystals on the piece, which measure up to 8 mm, and nearly all of them are undamaged. The crystals show excellent hexagonal prismatic form with smooth, well-formed faces. A really interesting and unusual specimen from this famous mine, with a hue / style that is not typically seen from the locality.
From the collection of the long time, beloved, well-known French field collector, Paul Zerfass (Collection #29). Zerfass built this worldwide collection over nearly 50 years, many of which were personally collected. A biography featuring specimens from his collection (along with his face on the cover) is in the May - June 2017 issue of French mineral magazine, Le Règne Minéral. We have a .pdf copy of the article for anybody interested in reading it (though it's mostly in French). Just drop us a line and know that you'd like to have a copy.