Teallite and Wurtzite on Cassiterite - image 1

Teallite and Wurtzite on Cassiterite - image 2

Teallite and Wurtzite on Cassiterite - image 3

Teallite and Wurtzite on Cassiterite - image 4

Teallite and Wurtzite on Cassiterite

Unknown Owner

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Collected from one of the famous Vaux expeditions of the early 1900s, this is a rare matrix teallite specimen featuring a pocket-growth teallite crystal measuring 1.3 cm long, perched safely in a protected vug of wurtzite crystals, all in a matrix of cassiterite ore. The slender yellow crystals may be greenockite but I have not had them analyzed so that is a bonus, if so. Freestanding, sharp teallite crystals are very uncommon, and this is a good one as it has matrix hosting it. Teallite normally forms as foliated masses or contacted ugly lumpy pieces, so this is, for what it is, quite a beauty. According to Mindat, this was an early locality for finds of teallite, and material from this district provided type specimens of the species. This locality is reported as far back as The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University, 1837-1892. As an additional note, I am pretty certain with my contacts that there have been no new finds of TEALLITE in this region despite extensive recent specimen collecting for species such as potosiite, zinkenite, and andorite which were found. MUCH BETTER IN PERSON! Sold to Rock Currier in 2008 as RCC #8810, for his important Bolivian suite. Purchased back in 2022.