Chalcocite

$1,500.00

$40.00 shipping
Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
Ships from USA

The Bristol Copper mine in Hartford County, Connecticut, USA, produced world-class specimens of Chalcocite and Bornite during its life, where mining began as early as 1837. Such specimens are now held in some of the major museums, Yale-Peabody being one. As far as I know, specimens from this mine are hardly ever seen in private collections and very seldom made available for sale. This beautifully crystallised Chalcocite is from the Dr Josef Clemente (1899-1987) Collection of southern Germany, a collection which lay dormant for the last 36 years and is now yielding classic material such as this. On this small miniature, sharp, superbly defined crystals of sooty-black Chalcocite cover a massive, almost totally hidden Chalcocite matrix with overgrowths of bright, milky-white scalenohedral Calcite crystals and a little Quartz. The Chalcocite forms striated tabular crystals to about 7 mm tall, with chisel-shaped terminations and a powder-like textured surface of sooty Chalcocite. Such a surface layer is occasionally observed on Chalcocite, a feature which makes this rare specimen all the more interesting. This is a rare opportunity to acquire a fine and historic specimen from the Bristol Copper mine in Connecticut.