NAGYÁGITE in Rhodochrosite

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The very rare lead antimony sulphide gold telluride species Nagyagite was first described from Nagyag (now known as Săcărâmb in modern day Romania) in 1772 but at that time its chemisty was not understood. The German chemist Klaproth published a detailed account of chemical tests on this species in 1802 and it was later named after the town in its honour. As such, it is one of the most important early mineral species identified and described from Romania and the early specimens remain the finest examples of this species known. This incredibly rich large miniature specimen comes from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) and is accompanied by an old typed Senckenberg Museum (Frankfurt) label which mentions Dr. Ludwig Belli (1852-1904). The Nagyagite crystals show the typical classic dark grey metallic bladed form, embedded within mottled pale pink to white Rhodochrosite. The Nagyagite blades reach up to 2.5 cm in length but little more than 1 mm in thickness, but they are many in number, making a very fine show.