Anglesite

Unknown Owner

This is a British classic - Anglesite from its Type Locality at Parys Mountain, Anglesey, Wales. Miniature in size it presents the distinctive porous, open textured Goethite gossan and Quartz matrix, with with many sparking 1 to 1.5 mm well-formed orthorhombic Anglesite crystals scattered throughout. Under the microscope these crystals are wonderful. Allied to this is the fact that this is an older specimen, perhaps not from the original find of the 1780s, but from the collections of the Stockholm Hogskola Mineralogical Institute (founded in 1881) whose accompanying labels document it as from Af Smith's collection about whom nothing is known. One of these labels - the older of the two - uses the early German term Blei Vitriol but spelt unusually as "Blye Vixtriol". Ex Malcolm Southwood collection (no. MS 2012.086), who produced a detailed account of the discovery of Anglesite in the UK Journal of Mines and Minerals in 1995. A great example from the Type Locality.