Polybasite with Pyrargyrite

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As far as crystallized silver sulphosalt specimens go, this cabinet-sized piece from Schneeberg-Alberoda in the Erzgebirge area of Saxony is an absolute cracker. Not only is it large and very displayable, but the coverage of undamaged, well-defined, complex crystals of intergrown Polybasite and Pyrargyrite is remarkable. Their myriad of stepped pseudohexagonal platy and prismatic crystal faces glisten with a fine submetallic to resinous lustre and dark purple-grey colour. Underneath, the matrix is fine grained Pyrite and Quartz but in the cavities between the Polybasite-Pyrargyrite and the matrix are several small wires of Native Silver and other unusual crystals of undefined species. Ex Hans Engelbrecht Collection, no. 6356, who acquired it from Walter Henkel in 2008.