Detailed information
Dimensions
52 x 119 x 33
mm
Weight
580 g
Locality
Reese River Mining District (Circa 1880) Lander County Nevada, USA
Condition
No recorded repairs
Firstly, how many Native Silver specimens of this richness have you seen from Nevada? Secondly, how many of those date to the 19th century? There certainly doesn't appear to be many really rich specimens out there, and yet there were some extremely important historic silver-rush towns. The few specimens which survive today are great rarities and historic reminders of the famous influx of miners to the area. This magnificent display specimen comes from the Reese River Mining District with a date of c. 1880! The Reese River Mining District was established in 1862 with the town of Austin built to service it, but by the 1880s the mines had started to close. Like many, the ores were exceptionally rich, but almost all was processed with virtually no thought for preserving specimens, making this a stunning reminder. Its richness is clear if not by its density, then by the visual display of layers of finely crystallized metallic Native Silver showing branching dendritic forms with just small areas of matrix showing.
