Leadhillite on Galena

$4,500.00

$40.00 shipping
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Ships from USA

Crystal ClassicsFeatured

Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

San Benedetto mine near Iglesias in Sardinia, Italy was a quite long-lived zinc mine owned for much of its life (1872-1941) by Vieille-Montagne. Extensive oxidation of the ore minerals was noted and some fine crystals of secondary lead species are recorded, including Anglesite, Cerussite and Leadhillite. Leadhillite is the one which attracts most attention due to its rarity in large, well-formed crystals on a world scale. This lovely miniature specimen consists of a nodule of Galena showing some external alteration to rusty iron oxides. Internally, a cavity is spanned by a 1.5 cm long complex aggregate of platy Leadhillite crystals. This is large, even by the standards for San Benedetto mine, and is great condition. It is from the superb worldwide systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).