Skutterudite (significant old classic!)

Item Description

Perched nicely on a matrix of vuggy limestone are fine, textbook crystals, to 1.5 cm across, of lustrous, silvery skutterudite. This cobalt arsenide specimen is accompanied by an old Hugh Ford label and is probably more than 100 years old. Specimens from this locality tend to be more massive, and with smaller crystals. This specimen has a nice balance to it, with dramatic display of the major crystals isolated on matrix as they are, instead of in the usual clumpy carpet. This is, relatively, a beauty queen for a skutterudite from Germany, as opposed to the much more common (and larger) material coming out of Morocco in today's world. However, these old German classics are still identifiable by different crystallization and matrix, and set a standard for European classics. This should be a highly valued old specimen, as others like it are few and far between, perhaps $1500-2000