Baryte

Unknown Owner

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The Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region, Czechia has been famous for amber coloured Baryte crystals for well over a century, with known examples sold in the late 1800s by the German dealers Krantz. They came from Lahošť at Duchcov where a quarry was later developed and where specimens have been found even within this current century, but the crystals are generally quite small and not usually so richly coloured. This miniature-sized specimen comes from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) and has the feel of being very old. The glossy, colour-zoned deep amber-coloured tabular Baryte crystals reach up to 1.8 cm on edge and form a very rich aggregate upon a small piece of rock matrix. There is some age-related general wear to the Baryte crystals, but this is a not often seen old-timer from this classic Czech occurrence.