Argyrodite

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The very rare germanium-bearing silver sulphosalt Argyrodite is known from mines along the length of the Andes mountains in South America, but richly crystallized specimens are rare. Indeed, crystals of Argyrodite are extremely rare from anywhere - the mineral typically occurring as rounded colloform masses. This large thumbnail specimen is from the less well known Santiago Alto mine at Porco in Potosí Department, Bolivia and takes the form of bluish-grey, metallic, rounded crystallized aggregates seemingly composed of rosettes of thin platy crystals. The colour and lustre are very lovely and the masses appear to be pure Argyrodite. It comes from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).