Cassiterite

Unknown Owner

Inverell is a little-known locality in Gough County, New South Wales, Australia, commonly known as 'Sapphire City' because of its blue, yellow and green Corundum deposits. Amongst the five species known to occur at Inverell is Cassiterite, and this can crystallise to form particularly good specimens. This example is a splendid single crystal of jet-black Cassiterite with a brilliant bright metallic lustre perched vertically amongst a matrix of milky Quartz covered in well-cemented fragments and shards of crudely crystallised milky Quartz. The Cassiterite crystal measures 1.5 cm tall by 1.3 cm square, with vertical prism faces and a steeply bevelled pyramidal termination, culminating in a small flat pinacoid. As is often seen in Cassiterite, at certain angles the faces and edges show hints of translucent clove-brown. A fabulous and perfect Cassiterite crystal from the Josef Clemente Collection of southern Germany.