Siderite, Quartz & Pyrite (old-rare-excellent) Trimingham Coll.

Item Description

Wheal Towan is an old and important copper mine, once one of the richest in Cornwall. First records date to 1756! (MINDAT). Specimens of any type from here are VERY RARE. This striking and excellent combination piece is highlighted by the sharp, lustrous, brownish-gray, tabular siderite rhombs rising up from the mounded quartz crystal matrix. The impressive large rhomb is 2.9 cm across and all of the rhombs have a very nifty preferential coating of drusy quartz crystals with sparkly pyrite microcrystals. Ex Bob Trimingham Collection, purchased from Roberts Minerals in 1985. It has a very fine provenance, according to Bob's label: from the Robert Chadbourne Collection of Colorado Springs with a Hugh Ford label; and importantly, previously in the famous Williams Collection from their office in Burncoose, Gwenap, Cornwall (see the Williams Mineral Collection article in May-June, 2011 Mineralogical Record, V. 42, # 3, p. 212). Value of such a fine old rarity to the locality or species collector?? This important piece probably dates to the early 1800s or even earlier.