Hübnerite - Adams Claim, Silverton, Animas District, San Juan County, Colorado, USA

Hübnerite

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Hübnerite from Adams Claim, at Cement Creek near Silverton is a now rarely seen Colorado classic. Reportedly very near to end member Hübnerite in composition (manganese tungstate), the thin bladed crystals from Adams Tunnel mine (aka Adams Claim) often show a distinctive red-brown colour when strong light is shone through them. This small cabinet-sized specimen is not a display of large bladed crystals, but a rich vein section, showing a large mass of small interlocking bladed Hübnerite crystals running down one side of the rock matrix. The largest crystals reach about 5 mm in length, but most are just a couple of millimetres in length, but nowadays specimens from this important US locality for Hübnerite are just simply not seen very often. Overall quite dark in colour, the crystals show flashes of orange red when they are illuminated. Ex David Hardman Collection, he probably acquired this during the 1970s or 1980s.