Cinnabar and Tetrahedrite with Pyrite on Calcite

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A fine small cabinet specimen of the mercury sulphide, Cinnabar, together with crystallised Tetrahedrite and Pyrite from the ancient mercury mining district of Landsberg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, south-west of Frankfurt am Main. Moschellandsberg hill (now shortened to Landsberg), is within a region rich in mercury and mercury minerals, where mining began in around 1440. Because of mercury's unique property of being the only liquid metal at ambient conditions, it has been known since ancient times, and is thought to have been first discovered by the Ancient Egyptians prior to 1,500 BCE. The Cinnabar forms as a rich area of dark, blood-red sub-millimetre crystals intermixed with slightly larger sized, sharp, metallic silver Tetrahedrite crystals and occasional, golden brassy Pyrite crystals, with underlying Calcite. An old label, numbered 2159, is glued to the back of the specimen and is from Joseph Neeld's (1789-1856) collection. For any specimens containing mercury and or mercury bearing minerals, it is a sensible precaution to always wash your hands after handling.