AIKINITE and NATIVE Gold in Quartz - image 1

AIKINITE and NATIVE Gold in Quartz

$950.00

$40.00 shipping
Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
Ships from USA

Crystal ClassicsFeatured

Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

This miniature specimen is a classic from Berezovskii, Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovskaya Oblast', Middle Urals, Russia. Discovered in 1745, this was the first major primary Native Gold occurrence in Russia to be worked, and led to a large-scale mining region developing. Several species new to science were uncovered there, most notably the red lead chromate mineral later named Crocoite, but discovered in 1766. In 1789, an unusual lead copper bismuth sulphide was found in long glossy dark grey to black crystals embedded within primary Quartz veinstone and associated with native Gold. This species was later named Aikinite, in honour of the British mineralogist Arthur Aikin (1773-1854). This superb miniature specimen features many quite large bladed Aikinite crystals - several to over 1.5 cm in length - embedded within white vein Quartz associated with spots of Native Gold and larger patches of what appears to be Pyrrhotite. For Aikinite it is an extremely rich piece. It is from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) and is probably of considerable age.