Silver with Acanthite (pseudomorph?) (ex Tom Campbell Collection)

Item Description

The Imiter Mine is one of the great contemporary Silver producers. Over the last couple decades, we've seen some truly impressive display specimens of Silver, typically in fine wire formations. This piece is different from your typical Imiter Silver as it features semi-crystalline and "leaf" like arborescent formations with a dark grey patina that are intergrown and partially pseudomorphed (?) with what we believe to be grey Acanthite. Now these crystals may not actually be Acanthite, because some of them are prismatic, which is rare for the species, and they show notable striations, which is certainly unusual as well. Perhaps these are Stephanite crystals, but it's hard to tell with the naked eye. The crystals are sitting on and in massive white Calcite on host rock matrix. Overall the display face of the piece is in great condition, as there is little damage that can be seen without the aid of a loupe. For reference, we found a photo on mindat.org that is similar in terms of the association ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-743575.html ). If anybody out there has some additional information as to the identity of this piece, please contact us and let us know. From the worldwide collection of Tom Campbell. Tom is a mineralogist and mineral collect who works with us here at The Arkenstone. He has over 35 years of experience in the fields of exploration geology, mining, and applied mineralogy, and has even more years under his belt as a collector! Tom has described many new species over the years, and discovered the rare phosphates Tiptopite, Fransoletite and Pahasapaite. Tom was also a co-author on the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Minerals. You can see a list of Tom's published works here ( https://www.irocks.com/thomas-j-campbell-publications-list ).