Description/Interesting Notes:
An incredible, old time example of native silver from Leadville!!! This specimen hosts a very rich showing of native silver on a darkly colored matrix!!!
The tin-white silver stands out in attractive contrast against the black matrix!!! The matrix is like a fine-grained quartzite that is near black in color and hosts
numerous patches of microcrystalline quartz crystals!!! While it might at first appear to be sheets of native silver - they are actually compressed masses of
native silver wires!!! These dense mattes of wires occupy numerous fissures, cracks, nooks, and crannies all over the specimen - with some areas approaching several millimeters
in thickness!!! The contrast between the silver and the matrix is much more pronounced in person and the specimen is quite impressive indeed!!! There is a small amount of
what appears to be white barite present as well as a small lone pyrite crystal that has an unusual silvery patina!!! This is a
killer old time Leadville silver
specimen - while any Leadville material is quite scarce, rich and significant specimens such as this are next to impossible to obtain!!! This
specimen retains an old label from the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum with notation that it came from the collection of R.S. Fitch!!! The pics hardly do it justice!!! Must be
seen in person to be fully appreciated!!!
Good luck and be sure to check out my other exciting mineral auctions on ebay!!!
STAY TUNED!!! MORE AUCTIONS
WILL BE ADDED SATURDAY NIGHT FOR A SPECIAL 5-DAY AUCTION, ENDING THURSDAY OCTOBER 28th!!!
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