Stibnite (rare locality specimen) (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

Most of the major Stibnite specimens to come out of China in the last 15 years or so are from the Wuling Mine. THIS specimen is from the much less known locality in Lushi Co., Henan, China. It features a group of sharp, lustrous, metallic, striated, silvery colored prisms in a semi-"spray" formation. Looking closely, the terminations are all in good shape, though some of them have a bit of intergrown micro Quartz buried in there, so it might appear they they're contacted, but I looked with a loupe, and they all seem crystallized. The largest crystal has a classic "bend" often seen in Stibnite, but rarely in any other species. A bit of edge wear along the prism can be seen, but overall the piece is in great shape. We had this one priced at $700 in the inventory. If you have always wanted to get your hand on one of these hard to find Stibnites, don't pass this one up as it was mined years ago, and has the great provenance of coming from the Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=671&page=1 ) or on Wikipedia.