Chalcocite

$600.00

$40.00 shipping
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Ships from USA

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Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

West Wheal Basset was a smaller copper mine south of Carn Brea hill and south of the main Camborne-lllogan-Redruth conurbation. Commenced in 1846, it continued through to 1917 by which point it had already been incorporated within the larger Wheal Basset sett. The Basset mines all began as copper producers but some shifted to tin with the discovery of the regionally important Great Flat Lode. As copper mines rich crystallized Chalcocite and in some instances Bornite specimens were produced for short periods of time, but often the individual mines were not disclosed and so specimens provenanced to mines such as West Wheal Bassett are great rarities and much sought after. This large miniature specimen which comes from Malcolm Southwood's collection (no. MS 2014.207) is very lovely, featuring small but nicely formed hexagonal Chalcocite crystals (3 to 4 mm across) on matrix and displaying a dark blue-grey historic tarnish. It comes with an unidentified older collection label and one from the Cowan collection too.