Clausthalite

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The rare lead selenide, Clausthalite, was first discovered during the 1820s at St Lorenz mine in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, within the Harz mountains in Lower Saxony, Germany. Never especially attractive, this dark grey metallic species was rapidly found in other mines within the surrounding hills and villages. Miniature in size, this small section of veinstone from Lerbach contains patches of Clausthalite (the largest to about 1.5 x 1.5 cm in extent) with Pyrite in Quartz. On the back of the specimen a greasy area remains from where this specimen was once held in place using mineral tack. It is accompanied by a quite old (probably late 19th century) handwritten collectors label, along with Dr Hans-Jurgen Wilke's (1925-2014) card index label (no. 2695) which shows he acquired it in 1966 from the Bergakademie Clausthal. A more recent label from Dr. Eduard Lopatka is also present.