Sperrylite

Unknown Owner

Platinum is a precious metal almost as valuable as gold but there are very few compounds containing platinum that form crystals visible to the naked eye. Sperrylite is perhaps the most famous because of its mirror-bright silvery modified cube and cubo-octahedral crystals which can exceptionally reach over 1 cm in size and when found on matrix produce impressive display specimens. This very rich large miniature to small cabinet-sized specimen of Sperrylite displays characteristic fine, bright metallic silver coloured intergrown crystals measuring to 6-7mm, formed on a matrix of mixed metallic yellow (Chalcopyrite) and tarnished dark purple sulphides. Some of the Sperrylite surfaces are fractured crystals, but there are at least 6 really well-defined cubic crystals with truncated corners which present really nicely. It is from one of the great all-time occurrences for Sperrylite crystals, that of the Talnakh Cu-Ni Deposit in Eastern-Siberian, Russia.