Galena ps. after Pyromorphite

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The Kautenbach mine near the town of Traben-Trarbach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, is famous for its extraordinary pseudomorphs of Galena after Pyromorphite, known locally as Galena varieties 'Blaubleierz' and 'Plumbeine'. This type of pseudomorph is rare worldwide, making specimens highly desirable. This wonderful miniature comes with an old (probably late 19th century) handwritten label in copperplate script and is a compound tight cluster of very sizable partially pseudomorphed Pyromorphite crystals in light battleship-grey with a matt to semi-metallic lustre. The pseudomorphed crystals range from about 1 to 2.2 cm across, forming sharply defined hexagonal prismatic crystals with flat, simple pinacoids. There is no alignment to the former Pyromorphite crystals, as different crystals sit adjacent to one another rotated by up to 90 degrees. Internally, the base of the specimen reveals pale banana-yellow, semi-opaque resinous Pyromorphite as a polycrystalline glassy core and in many cases the replacement by Galena is just a few millimetres thick. A magnificent and historic partial pseudomorph of Galena after Pyromorphite from the Kautenbach mine.