Anglesite (unusual rare habit) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

Anglesite isn't rare per se from Tsumeb, but it's certainly much less common that other lead minerals like Cerussite, Mimetite and Wulfenite. Typically, Anglesites from Tsumeb are white or colorless and either blocky or prismatic, but this particular specimen is really unusual for the locality in terms of color and habit. The piece is a good sized (nearly 2 inch) composite crystal with dozens of sharp, lustrous, layered faces that actually show a slight yellow color, which isn't often seen from this beloved locality. Additionally, the crystal is notably tabular which also is not common for the locality. The piece is in good shape all around, as it's crystallized both on the front and back, and the only damage is on the bottom edges where it was removed from the pocket wall, along with a few tiny chips here and there. If you love Tsumeb, this is the kind of piece that fits perfectly into an Anglesite suite, as I haven't see one quite like it before. Considering that Tsumeb is the most prolific species producing locality in history with a lot of isolated, unique discoveries, it isn't surprising that we find a piece like this that doesn't really resemble another Anglesite we've seen. David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered. The piece is accompanied by an old label from Robert K. Brandenberger of (also of Newington, Connecticut).