Siderite

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An extremely rare and sought after miniature specimen from the comparatively small Great Onslow Consols mine on the north-western fringe of the Bodmin Moor Granite. Considered by connoisseurs to be one of the rarest of Cornish specimens to be able to obtain because of how few were originally mined and because of their unique crystal form. Peter Embrey and Robert Symes in their 1987 book, "Minerals of Cornwall and Devon", illustrate (pg. 123) a specimen from the collections at the Natural History Museum, London, bought by the museum from Richard Talling in 1854. They describe is a "one of the few known from the locality". Here a stout hexagonal prismatic crystal of dark red-brown Siderite measuring to 1.1 cm stands out from the surrounding smaller crystals of Siderite. The underside of the specimen has two cavities lined with further Siderite crystals and a single Quartz crystal. Ex Glyn Cunnick collection.