Valentinite (ex Rose and Phillips Collections)

Item Description

This piece hails from the pocket of the summer of 2011. This great discovery produced some of the best crystals of Valentinite ever made at the famous San Jose Mine in Bolivia. Going back to the early 2000s, this historic mine produced the finest Andorite crystals extant, the largest crystals of Potosiite crystals ever seen, along with most impressive large twinned Ferrokesterite in the world, just to name a few of its merits. For centuries, the San Jose Mine has been producing minerals (mostly Silver for the Spanish which dates as far back as the year 1595 and was mined by the native Incans for several centuries prior). Then in the mid 20th century, this mine yielded some of the finest crystallized Valentinites in the world. After that point, the only Valentinites of note that came out of Bolivia where those from Colavi, but they don't stand up to the finest ones from San Jose. in 2011 the miners went back into an old part of the mine and collected these wonderful Valentinites. The entire area was mined out, and no more of these pieces will be found again. This particular piece is a good example of this rare antimony oxide (Pronounced: Vah-LEN-tin-ite) featuring several sharp, lustrous, silvery color (due to micro inclusions of Galena) prismatic, tabular crystals sitting atop Pyrite matrix. The largest crystal measures 1.3 cm. Most of the crystals are in excellent condition. A great chance to have a matrix specimen of a very hard to find mineral from one of the most notable localities in Bolivia. Species collectors out there should jump on this one, but worldwide collectors should not pass it up either. From the collections of Erik Rose and Dr. Barratt Phillips.