Detailed information
Species
Crocoite
Dimensions
112 x 78 x 40
mm
Locality
Berezovskii, Ekaterinburg Sverdlovskaya Oblast' Middle Urals, Russia
Condition
No recorded repairs
In terms of spectacular large crystals, the Berezovskii mines, in Middle Urals, Russia cannot compete with the likes of the famous Tasmanian Crocoite finds at the Red Lead mine and Adelaide mine, but what it does have is historic pedigree. The Australian discoveries date to the early 20th century onwards, prior to which the world's best lead chromate came from the deposits in central Russia that had been discovered in the 1770s, or perhaps earlier. This rich specimen of bright red to orange-red crystals and sections of Crocoite is actually very large for Berezovskii and is almost certainly several centuries old. On the classic mottled sandstone matrix the Crocoite is associated with colourless-white elongated Calcite, or more likely Quartz, with minor pale green Malachite. A very fine, larger, old-time Russian Crocoite.
