Bournonite

$3,500.00

$40.00 shipping
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Ships from USA

This substantial Cornish Bournonite looks the part, but from the outset it should be noted that it is repaired. That said, it takes a while to spot the single repair, which is always a good sign of the work done - it is to the main Bournonite crystal at the top of the specimen. It is small cabinet in size and quite dense due to the abundance of large, blocky, gunmetal grey Bournonite crystals, reaching up to 2.2 cm across and up to 1.3 cm thick. These crystals have the most desirable, slightly iridescent historic patina to them and many are coated on one side with tiny spiky octahedral Galena/Tetrahedrite microcrystals that under the microscope look like a meat tenderizer. The Bournonite is also intergrown with blades of white Quartz which in places coats, or overgrows, the Bournonite crystal surfaces. A very old and fragile handwritten label accompanying this specimen gives the location as "Liskeard, Cornwall" which was typical for specimens from Herodsfoot mine. Virtually all of these specimens were extracted whilst the mine was operational during a narrow window in time during the 1860s, and most passed through the hands of the dealer Richard Talling. For those wanting to know more, I thoroughly recommend the Herodsfoot mine article written by Roy Starkey and published in The Mineralogical Record in 2012 (Vol. 43, No. 4). A lovely classy, old-time specimen. Ex Malcolm Southwood collection, no. MS 2012.048.