Bornite ps. after Chalcocite

Unknown Owner

This larger thumbnail specimen is a Cornish classic. Levant mine, situated a few miles from Land's End, is one of the great localities for crystallized Chalcocite, not just in the UK, but the world. Its Chalcocite can form perfect hexagonal tabular crystals (cyclic twins), complex prisms and combinations of the two, looking like nails, and for obvious reasons given the name 'nail-head' Chalcocite. In general, the Chalcocite crystals don't reach more than a couple of cm in size. but it is their perfect form which makes them so desirable. Very rarely, the Chalcocite is replaced, or pseudomorphed, by purplish metallic Bornite and this superb specimen is a remarkably fine example. It displays two prismatic crystals grown at right angles to each other in an 'L' shape, each with small hexagonal cyclic twins sat upon their termination like a nail. Several other small hexagonal crystals can be seen growing out from the sides of one of the prisms. In overall fine condition.