Bournonite - image 1
specimen video
Updated 1d ago

Bournonite

Help improve this record

No owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

Sign in to contribute
Classic twinned lustrous metallic crystals of bournonite measuring to 0.5 cm in size across the front of matrix. This is in excellent condition. Very choice historical thumbnail specimen, this comes with a previous label from the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum in the donor of the piece was noted L.L. Hubbard.Herodsfoot Mine, located near Lanreath in Cornwall, England, operated primarily as a silver-lead mine during the nineteenth century and achieved world-class status among mineral collectors for its extraordinary sulphosalt specimens. While the mine's commercial focus was extracting lead ore and silver from deep underground lodes, its underground cavities or vughs yielded world-renowned specimens of the mineral bournonite between the 1850s and 1870s. Bournonite from this locality became famous for its dark steel-grey metallic luster and distinctive, complexly twinned crystal habit that earned it the nickname cogwheel ore. Local mineral dealer Richard Talling acquired the finest of these cogwheel specimens directly from miners and distributed them to major museums and elite collectors worldwide, cementing Herodsfoot as the definitive historic type locality for the species before the mine closed permanently in 1884.

Product details

SpeciesBournonite
SizeMiniature
Dimensions2.6 x 2.3 x 1.0 cm
Added on09/29/2026
Current owner
Unknown Owner
Previous owners
DateCollectorAcquisition price
—Weinrich MineralsNot disclosed

Learn more

Bournonite
Mineral guide
Learn about Bournonite
steel-gray to black sulfosalt famed for cogwheel twinning and metallic luster; prized by collectors for iconic gears and historic localities.
Bournonite
Regional guide
Bournonite from Herodsfoot Mine, Cornwall, UK
Herodsfoot Mine, Cornwall, UK — classic bournonite with cogwheel twins, dark metallic luster, often on quartz; prized for provenance and sculptural form.
Locality guide
Herodsfoot Mine
Herodsfoot Mine, UK: historic Cornish locality yielding bournonite and tetrahedrite on quartz; classic cabinet pieces prized by collectors.