Witherite

$1,500.00

$40.00 shipping
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This is a wonderful miniature north of England classic. The complex twinned Witherite crystals found at Fallowfield mine, near Hexam in Northumberland are one of the all-time British greats, forming beautiful, white, six-sided pyramids and bipyramids. This very unusual habit of crystal was first spotted there in the 1820s and despite being cyclic twinned crystals are the most recognizable form of Witherite to most collectors due to their iconic status. This very pretty miniature features two Witherite crystals perched on matrix, the longer a bipyramid at 3.6 cm in length and the smaller at 2.3 cm. The smaller of the two has a very slightly damaged termination, but the bipyramidal crystal is in really good condition for its age. The matrix is a coarse sandstone which is coated in a thin layer of acute bipyramidal Alstonite microcrystals. Fallowfield mine is, of course, the Co-Type Locality for Alstonite, having been found there in 1835. This is a really well-balanced miniature, of this absolute classic. Ex Martin Kershaw Collection, no. 371.