Cassiterite With Schorl

Unknown Owner

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A MAJOR specimen of import, that is widely regarded as by far the largest cassiterite known from California. It features a rough but nevertheless fully-formed cassiterite crystal that measures over 9 cm, adjoined on its rear by minor albite and an overhanging schorl crystal. Now, the schorl is repaired (heavily so, in fact) but this mess is hidden by the cassiterite itself and does detract from value but not from the display view and quality. In other words, since the cassiterite is the "star" and it is not the item which is repaired, the piece is still very worthy of consideration in my opinion. It is one of those minerals that is not as pretty as you would perhaps like it to be, but is of undeniable importance nonetheless in the scope of mineralogy and of California collecting in particular.