For me, Cassiterite crystals always add a pang of excitement to a specimen, but perhaps I need to get out more often! This most delicious miniature certainly does this for me, with four separate, well developed twinned glossy-black Cassiterite crystals embedded between chocolate-bronze books of hexagonal Zinnwaldite Mica crystals and small, 1 to 5 mm milky Quartz crystals. The Cassiterite twins' range between 0.7 and 1 cm across and form perfectly defined butterfly twins with lustrous central re-entrant faces. Zinnwaldite is now no longer classified as a species but is a convenient term for mica within the Siderophyllite and Polylithionite series. These elegant Mica books attain 1.8 cm and provide an aesthetic foil to the metallic Cassiterite, a tin oxide. A charming specimen from the famous tin deposit which spans the border between Germany (Saxony) and the Czech Republic (Bohemia). The locality therefore carries the joint names C'novec/Zinnwald near to Erzgebirge and Krusn' Hory.

Known provenanceKnowing where your specimen comes from and who owned it adds to its story and value. Good provenance helps prove it's authentic and preserves important details about its discovery.

Crystal Classics

Tucson, Arizona, USA