Cerussite

Unknown Owner

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Prior to the discovery of Tsumeb mine in the early 20th century, Germany played host to one of the world's most important sources of well-crystallized Cerussite, at Friedrichssegen mine in the Bad Ems District, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Incredibly rich specimens were available during the second half of the 19th century and made their way through famous European mineral dealers to the greatest collections at that time. This wonderful cabinet-sized specimen displays not only quite large and well-formed Cerussite crystals, but they are contextualized by their presence within the inside of a gossanous, iron-oxide rich nodule, showing their typical formation within oxidized vein material. Many of the crystals are platy in form, and repeatedly twinned, the largest reaching about 1 cm in size, but with much larger areas of aggregated crystals. This lovely historic piece is further enhanced by its accompanying labels including Alexandre Stuer (c.1860-1920) in Paris, Julius Bohm (c.1850-1925) in Vienna and an unidentified collector/institutional label. Ex Professor Werner Paar Collection.