Hessite on Quartz

Unknown Owner

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ex. Dr. Werner Paar Collection Hessite is a very rare silver telluride that occurs at its best, in monster crystals as you see here, ONLY from this old classic locality. Specimens are extremely hard to obtain today and the few I have ever gotten tend to sell quickly. In europe, I have seen far inferior specimens to this priced at over double the price, and in euros no less. So I think that here, my friend is parting with a true treasure (even though it was a duplication, I argued for him to keep it...). The area with good crystals (one elongated xl is really important and dramatic!) measures approximately 3x2 cm which is a rather large and impressive coverage. There is even some very microscopic gold in attendance. The piece retains its original patina, uncleaned by any acids or chemicals to brighten the hessite (although this is easily done with silver cleaners) or to change the quartz from iron-stained orange to a contrasting white color (also easily done with simple iron-out cleaners). I love the historic look of the piece. It is clean...by no means "dirty"...but it retains the look of an ancient specimen and is not "modernized" as too many are into a shiny silver crystal group on sparkling white quartz.