Proustite on Calcite

Unknown Owner

The Příbram District in Bohemia, Czech Republic is a famous ancient European silver-mining region. This large miniature specimen is mainly sugary texture Calcite but has several areas richly covered in dark coloured Proustite with occasional flashes of red internal reflections. This rare silver arsenic sulphide is highly sought and although most of the Proustite here is broken surfaces several very well defined microcrystals (to 1.5 mm) are present, making this a good representative example from one of the all-time classic silver mining regions. Ex David Hardman collection, no. 2377.