Stibnite with Baryte on Quartz

Item Description

This is a very architectural Stibnite specimen from a lesser known locality in China, recorded as producing in the late 1990s and perhaps early 2000s. The style is unique, in combination and overall. This attractive piece is bristling with bundles of brilliantly lustrous, acicular Stibnite crystals set on a contrasting matrix of stalactites composed of truly sparkling, sugar-like Quartz druse (they are either stalactites, or casts after coating a previous stibnite generation). There are dozens of sheaves of metallic gray Stibnite composed of thin, acicular crystals in tight and somewhat loosely clustered groups all across the front and top of the piece. For ultimate contrast, the Stibnite is set on drusy spires of sparkling Quartz in a way totally different from any other find. The Quartz and a few Stibnites are accented by numerous, isolated, translucent and colorless Baryte crystals from 3 to 5 mm. This is an incredibly aesthetic and showy Stibnite specimen from this humble locality, forgotten by most of us. Sharp cubic-looking (pseudocubic) baryte crystals are accents and add dimensionality and contrast, as does the matrix itself - a unique combination!