Name: Hessite with NATIVE Gold on Quartz
Brand: Crystal Classics
Price: 17500 USD
Availability: InStock

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Updated 17h ago

Hessite with NATIVE Gold on Quartz

The extremely rare silver telluride species Hessite is, to be brutally honest, not the prettiest of things to look at, but it is one of most collectible of the rare 'precious' metal species and as such great crystallized specimens command high prices. First described from an obscure occurrence in Kazakhstan in the 1830s, it was the finds made at a gold mine at Botești in Romania in 1875 which have defined this unusual species. Infact, finding a well-defined Hessite crystal visible to the naked eye from anywhere other than Botești is almost impossible. This triangular-shaped large miniature specimen features an exceptionally large (2.2 cm long) Hessite crystal on Quartz veinstone matrix, but equally important is its heritage, with a suite of old collection labels. Its most recent label is from Dr Werner Paar (collection no. 1424) but also has a label from the famous Austrian collector Johann Isidor Weinberger (1838-1915) with his typed number label affixed to the back of the specimen. It also has what looks to be an even older handwritten label with it and also a very old and detailed handwritten label affixed to it. The Hessite is crystallized as classic rounded 'molten' dark-grey resinous to submetallic crystals and elongated blades with rounded edges. These crystals sit upon a bed of terminated Quartz crystals cutting through a thin layer of pale grey rock matrix. The largest bladed Hessite crystal is almost freestanding, but at a shallow angle across the surface of the Quartz with an attachment to a the tip of a Quartz crystal near to its own termination. The most recent label mentions Native Gold in association with the Hessite which we have not been able to confirm visually, but it may well have been identified optically as fine inclusions within the Hessite. This specimen sits naturally for display in an upright position, with the main Hessite crystal pointing upwards.

$17,500.00