Sphalerite on PyriteA beautiful pair of matched complex, highly modified, deep reddish black groups of Sphalerite are smartly perched atop a mound of HIGHLY lustrous, bright, metallic, golden striated Pyrite pyritohedra. No real damage to speak of on the display side, and very attractive for a smaller Gilman specimen. A beautiful toenail sized display specimen from the world famous Eagle Mine (more properly the New Jersey Zinc Eagle Mine). This mine is long defunct and

not only from this mine but the species in general

and it was a part of my private collection for years

You don’t see these anywhere on the market now

The piece features dozens of “rosettes” of tan Siderite which are sitting atop rather lustrous

Specimen # AMBER51708

the term copal comes from the Nahuatl / Aztec word "copalli" which translates into "incense"

Specimen # BOL711B201

and I was very lucky to get as many good pieces as I did

The Brookites are a bit thicker than most crystals this size

I like to call them “black beauties”) is the fact that they’re not always terribly aesthetic

This piece is from a find in July of 2007 at the type locality for the species which was originally discovered along the Contacto and San Jose veins in this mine and first described by Sam Gordon and Mark Bandy

and sometimes lesser known