Name: Cinnabar
Brand: The Arkenstone
Price: 5000 USD
Availability: InStock

Updated 19h ago

Cinnabar

This specimen is a real surprise, as very very few old Spanish cinnabars of any note exist outside of old museum collections. This is an ancient locality that goes back to the Roman era, and has been worked mostly consistently since that time. Few enough specimens were ever recovered or survived, but they formed a source of important scientific examples in the early days of mineralogy - as well as being a significant source of mercury for all of Europe for centuries. This is a cabinet sized specimen of solid ore-grade cinnabar, almost pure; and it features a liberal display face with bright, shiny, metallic crystals to 1 cm. Dozens of them! It is worth noting that cinnabar crystals can fade in color and luster when exposed to light and oxygen together (oxidation), and so this has likely been kept out of strong lighting for a century or more. Barlow would have displayed it in his collection (#900 out of over 6000 pieces), with lights on and off as he had visitors. That is OK. It is long periods of continuous sunlight with a UV component that are a problem. Storage in a typical showcase, or especially in a box, is no worry. This is an important historic specimen, and an honor to hold and sell. Note that this came in a collection purchase in bulk, and without the labels assigned at the time: we simply assumed it was a cinnabar from a lesser locale, until we matched the labels up (there was only one cinnabar in this collection) and found Barlow's original label from his private sale of some collection pieces in the mid-1990s. It has since been in another collection. This is a huge displays specimen from a very important historic place, and it happens to also be very pretty.

$5,000.00