Senarmontite (rare) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

Senarmontite is a rare antimony oxide and this excellent crystal is from the type locality in Algeria - the Djebel Hammimat Mine. You seldom see any examples of this species in crystalline form except from this locality. this piece is a sharp, silvery-gray octahedron with a waxy luster measuring 7 mm, free of matrix. It's actually slightly translucent when backlit, and shows a bit of a "wispy" appearance internally. This species is hard to find on the market, and old specimens date back to the old French exploration service BRGM, prior to the 1950s and even as far back as the 1850s. Odds are that this was one of the specimens found on one of those French expeditions. From the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016). David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered.