Erythrite

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A beautiful, thin plate covered by sharp, metallic, acicular erythrite crystals. They sparkle in any light. According to Mindat.org: La Blanco is a small Co-Cu deposit close to the town of Freirina; mined on a small scale in the 19th century (Ref.: Maurizio Dini). It is the most likely source for this specimen because a Xerox of the original museum label (with specimen PAS-182a) gives "San Juan, Chili" as the locality, and because that label also states the presence of "Asbolite." Asbolite is a now-discredited name for a "cobaltian wad" of interlocking acicular erythrite crystals. According to Mindat.org, this is the only documented old locality which produced both erythrite and "asbolite." We know that this specimen was given by Dr. Domeyko, who sent many study samples to the Academy during its heyday, which also coincided with his own heyday in studying the rare minerals of this part of the world.