Sulfur

Item Description

Bolivia typically is best known for its sulfides, sulfosalts, oxides and phosphates, but down in the western desert lies one of the greatest producers of Sulfur crystals in the world. These alluring specimens are not the same habit/style as the old classics from Sicily, but rather, large bright yellow single crystals and clusters, rarely on matrix. These are some of most iconic examples of Sulfur from any locality in the world. This specimen features bright "canary" yellow, lustrous, gemmy/translucent crystals of Sulfur with slightly "hoppered" or skeletal faces measuring up to 2.4 cm with additional Sulfur crystals on matrix. The slightly hollow growth is due to the fact that these crystals grow so rapidly that they cannot "fill in" all the way while they're growing. These pieces are beloved by collectors for their size and wonderful morphology. It should be noted that Sulfur is notorious for turning sulfide minerals black upon exposure, so keep your Pyrites, Galenas, Chalcopyrites, etc. away from native Sulfur in order to maintain their metallic beauty. For reference, this species should be spelled S-U-L-F-U-R (not sulphur) as both the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry along with the British Royal Society of Chemistry adopted this spelling in the 1990s (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur#Spelling_and_etymology). Wikipedia also states that, "Sulfur is derived from the Latin word sulpur, which was Hellenized to sulphur in the erroneous belief that the Latin word came from Greek."