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CC62871

ACANTHITE with NATIVE SILVER

ACANTHITE with NATIVE SILVER

Size:
70 x 76 x 44 mm
Weight:
297 g
£4,477.00 GBP
£4,477.00 GBP
Sale Sold out
Taxes included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

Item held in the US store
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Detailed information

Dimensions 70 x 76 x 44 mm
Weight 297 g
Locality Hongda Mine, Xiaoqinggou Ag-Mn Deposit Lingqiu Co., Datong Prefecture Shanxi Province, China
Condition No recorded repairs
Acanthite, or silver sulphide, is named from the Greek for "thorn", "acantha" and yet most of world's largest Acanthite crystals are cubic, or isometric in form. This is because the cubic form of silver sulphide - Argentite - is not stable on the Earth's surface but transforms to Acanthite but maintaining its external crystal shape as a pseudomorph. Even so, visible, display-worthy Acanthite crystals - whether cubic or monoclinic in outline - are very rare and extremely collectible things to own. Historically, the 'Old World' finds in the German silver mining districts, and the 'New World' discoveries in Mexico and South America were amongst the most famous places for cubic Acanthite crystals, but in the early 21st century, from about 2006 onwards, the Hongda mine in Lingqiu Co., Datong Prefecture, Shanxi Province, China started to turn heads with its well-crystallized Acanthite. This small cabinet-sized display specimen shows the level of quality and if this was an old-timer from Germany it would likely be an order of magnitude more expensive. Forming a stack of intergrown, dark, gun-metal grey crystals, this piece is almost entirely Acanthite save for a few scattered patches of Native Silver. With a resinous to waxy metallic lustre, the Acanthite crystals all present slightly rounded forms, from simple cubes to cubo-octahedra and even perhaps dodecahedral shapes. It comes with a custom-made display stand. An exceptionally well-crystallized Acanthite (after Argentite) from the short-lived discoveries in China.

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I bought a specimen but it is not what I expected or was damaged in transit. Can I return the specimen?

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