Sphalerite (OLD classic) (ex Washington A. Roebling Collection)

Item Description

An old time and very rarely seen specimen of deep golden-black colored Sphalerite with Quartz from an undisclosed locality in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany. The piece features a couple of complex Sphalerites measuring up to 3.1 cm across with well-formed faces, excellent luster and beautiful crystallization. The Sphalerites are mostly opaque when backlit, but on the back you can see a bit more of a golden color. The Sphalerites are intergrown with fine quality, off-white, translucent lustrous, sharp, pyramidal Quartz crystals. The piece is in great shape on the display side, and is an excellent example of this old time material from Germany. The piece comes with an old label from the Smithsonian from the collection of Washinton Agustus Roebling. Roebling was a colonel in the US Army during the Civil War, along with being a civil engineer who supervised the contstruction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and of course, a mineral collector. He assembled one of the finest mineral collections in the United States of its time (16,000 specimens), which was donated to the Smithsonian Institution after this death.