Dyscrasite with Sphalerite

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This historic Dyscrasite specimen comes from the famous Samson silver mine at St. Andreasberg, Harz, Lower Saxony, Germany. The Samson mine was, for a long time one of the deepest mines in the world and operated for five centuries from 1521-1910. Miniature in size, the specimen displays rich silvery-grey Dyscrasite intergrown with orange-brown Sphalerite. The Dyscrasite is crystallized, but the crystals from Samson mine are never as sharply defined as those from some other famous localities in Germany and the Czech Republic. From the superb systematic collection of Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) it is accompanied by two lovely old handwritten German collection labels dating to the second half of the 19th century.