Name: Rheniite
Brand: The Arkenstone
Price: 2400 USD
Availability: InStock

Rheniite

A very fascinating and somewhat recently described (2004) rare rhenium-containing mineral species formed under very hot conditions in volcanic fumaroles at the type locality in Russia. Other than being alloyed with platinum group elements or a trace constituent in molybdenite, Rheniite represents the only distinct rhenium-bearing species, as a rhenium sulfide. The crystals are there, but we do not have good enough microphotography to do them justice, so suffice to say the sparkles in the video are ALL crystals of Rheniite! This is a large, significant and very rich specimen with abundant silvery bright, wedge-shaped, 0.5 mm Rheniite crystals. Exceptional quality and display-worthy! When I spoke Russian at the time, I bought many of these from Fersman basement storage in the late 1990s and most specimens were in the 1-3 cm range. That is what we got and happily sold - museums and collectors alike, loved these. Larger, display quality and sized pieces like this were ALWAYS rare, even then. They were found some time before being described formally, and I recall buying these from the Russians at the time as it was not yet published and getting challenged about the validity of the species at the time, as it was so surprising and people had a hard time believing it was real. I have seen a lot of the original material and know the folks who field collected some of it in difficult conditions and can say that this is a noteworthy example! It was originally purchased from the Fersman Museum of Moscow by the late Josef Vajdak for his important systematic collection (which we purchased), and retains both labels.

$2,400.00