Cerussite

$9,500.00

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The ArkenstoneFeatured

3,403 for sale·Member since 2026

Cerussites are rarely seen from the Daoping Mine, a locality best-known for Pyromorphites that have come to the market from 3 different locations within this "district" since the early 2000s (all three have been called Daoping in Western literature, as people were simply unaware). This piece is a remarkable outlier for the species here, arguably one of the finest Cerussites recovered from the older mine in the early 2000s. Our China office is just a few hours away from the southern location of the old mine and we have followed this closely! In any case, the entire district is now officially a geopark or nature park, and protected from further mining (officially, although miners still seem to risk going in; and that should slow to a stop soon enough). The specimen is noteworthy on a worldwide basis but particularly for China: features extraordinarily thick crystals, along with the thin-bladed habit of "window-panes" that was more typically found at Daoping. All the crystals have good luster, and the larger crystals are partly gemmy and have the early development of cyclic twinning. The Cerussite also has a rich, creamy-orange fluorescence. This fine, small small-cabinet piece was formerly in the extensive collection of Dr. Stephen Smale (he has a 1200-piece approx. China sub-collection specializing in miniatures and small cabs), a China specialist since he lived in Hong Kong in the late 90s, for decades and was exchanged to us only recently (2024). Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website (https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/smalestephen/) or easily found on Wikipedia. Steve is 96 in 2026, and as a fellow China collecting specialist, we have done a large amount of business as we each focus our own China collections. I (Rob, speaking) was very tempted to keep this for my own China collection but I have one of the few larger (large, but nowhere near as fine or refined in style) examples of the style already and try to keep only the largest; and not compete with all my customers across a size spectrum. This is truly better than the one i am keeping in every metric but size; and I say that with the experience of having a buying office in China since 2009, being to China over 80 times by 2026, and watching Daoping from nearly its start as a specimen locality. In short, I treasure this large, fine miniature as one of the most rare older Chinese finds one can obtain. Also, it looks completely different from anything from Tsumeb, so it can hold its own on a worldwide basis in any collection.