Silver with Acanthite

$3,750.00

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163 sold last year · median $485.00 · last sale $95,000.00

The ArkenstoneFeatured

3,410 for sale·797 sold

Sculptural and remarkably thick, this twisted Silver wire is from the famed Uchucchacua Mine of Peru, from famous discoveries in the 1980s. A large miniature bordering on being a small-cabinet specimen, the base is an intricate mixture of Silver wires winding through Acanthite. Atop this, a long wire begins to spiral and splay, starting at 7 mm thick at its base and narrowing down to one or several mm near the ends. The wire is long and serpentine, and the contrast between the Acanthite and the lustrous Silver with its variable patina is excellent. The aesthetics are lovely, and it is important to realize that Silver production here dwindled by the early 2000's so these are becoming more rare by the day as they only resurface in old collections. For us, we felt that this specimen has a "German level" of quality, but material from the historic German mines, even though it looks very similar, would be priced at triple the cost of relatively contemporary Peruvian material even though both are quite hard to obtain.