Pyrrhotite ''flowers'' on Sphalerite (ex Russ Honea and Univ. of Arizona Collections)

Item Description

A superb cabinet display specimen of these incredibly hard to find old Pyrrhotites from Cavnic. The piece is loaded with a multitude of eye-catching, brassy, metallic bladed crystals of Pyrrhotite intergrown to form beautiful "flower"-shaped groups measuring up to 2.7 cm across, elegantly sitting atop stark black Sphalerite matrix. The Pyrrhotite "flowers" have a gentle selective deposition of soft tan colored vitreous Siderite rhombs for a beautiful touch. When you flip the piece over you can see small veins of golden metallic Pyrite running in various directions as well. The overall quality and presentation of the piece is superb. This area is well-known for producing some superb examples of various sulfides but I can't remember seeing another piece quite like this from this famous Bronze Age mining district. Priced at $1,800 in the inventory. The piece comes from the collection of the University of Arizona Mineral Museum by way of a donation from Russell (Russ) M. Honea of Broomfield, Colorado back in 1988. Russ was a mineralogist and professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and often made donations to the U of A to help bolster their collection. Russ was a very accomplished and brilliant mineralogist, who traveled the world in search of fine mineral specimen.