5
Galena on Fluorite$9,500.00
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Galena in large, fine crystals with sharp form and luster is actually not at all as common as you think it would be from the famous lead and fluorite mines of central England. In fact, fine galena specimens were always treasured by British collectors as far back as we can see in history (see the incredibly well researched book: Sparry Garniture, for more context on that). Fine galena crystals, on fluorite, generally only came from a few mines in the County Durham area, in particular the Rogerley. Most of them are cubic, and most crystals, if they were large, were clunky or dull. This piece, however, is the one that surprises because it is so good, so pretty, and so big. It was from a major British collection and has been held in country since it was found in the 1980s, only recently released and sold to a friend of ours who is well-versed and well-travelled in the English countryside. He has seen more English collections than I have (although we also handled several important ones: Greenbank, Asselborn, etc), and this friend proposed to me when he sent me a video from England that it was the finest example overall for our aesthetic taste, that we would ever see. He was right. The piece features a sparkling, lustrous cuboctahedral galena crystal to 7.5 cm across, that sits very robustly and fully exposed on a well-trimmed matrix of purple fluorite. We need the aesthetics, the contrast, and the quality all to make this piece transcend the rest. It was as good in person as his video promised. In the hand, this is very hefty and volumetric, as well — something hard to convey by video. MUCH better in person.
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