Pyromorphite

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Ordinarily, this specimen of darker green crystallized Pyromorphite might be overlooked, but it has history to it. Coming from the fine historic collection assembled by brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) it is recorded by them as dating to the 18th century. Unfortunately, the original handwritten label has been lost but their transcript records, "Chromsaures b(eid)seitig sauliges Bleyerz von der Dreyfaltigkeit zu (?) Zschopau in Sachsen". Zschopau is the Type Locality for Pyromorphite and it is generally accepted that the first samples came from the Heilige Dreifaltigkeit mine. This remarkable specimen consists of a somewhat weathered host rock intergrown with small Quartz crystals and liberally coated on several sides by sharp, well-formed hexagonal prisms of Pyromorphite, reaching up to 4 mm in length. Predominantly leaf-green in colour, on one side of the specimen they are, in contrast, an orange colour.