Franckeite with Zinkenite and Stannite

Help improve this record

No owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

It has to be said that the geochemically complex iron lead tin antimony sulphide species, Franckeite, is not the most attractive of minerals, but is super rare as crystals, with most of the best examples having come from mines in Bolivia. This is an outstanding specimen of superbly crystallized Franckeite due to its sheer size (small cabinet, when most are thumbnails) with Zinkenite in association very richly encrusting a largely hidden matrix of Stannite, probably intermixed with more Franckeite and Zinkenite. This specimen is from the Itos mine within the confines of Oruro City, Oruro Department, Bolivia. Itos is a large silver-tin mine and is considered to produce the world's finest crystallized specimens of Franckeite. Franckeite covers the specimen as dense sprays of metallic silver spear-shaped crystals, with an overall crinkled appearance. The Zinkenite, a lead antimony sulphosalt, forms rich mats and sprays of very fine acicular crystals. Stannite, a copper iron tin sulphide, forms a massive mid-grey matrix which is tarnished to metallic blues, blue-greens and lilac. A magnificent specimen of these rare species.