Boulangerite

Item Description

The mines of Maramures County, Romania are well known for Sulfosalt minerals or specifically in this case lead antimony sulfides. One of the uncommon minerals seen from the mines is Boulangerite and it is usually seen included in other minerals such as in calcite or quartz. Here is a rarer refined example that is not included consisting of a dense coverage of lustrous metallic elongated silver needles of Boulangerite crystals. Several of the hair-like crystals even exhibit an iridescence sheen to them. The Boulangerite crystals rest on a thick sulfide rich matrix consisting of Sphalerite, Pyrite, Chalcopyrite and possibly Marcasite with minor contrasting white Calcite present. The needles are in near-pristine condition. While the fine needle texture is as sensitive to the touch as it looks, it should be noted that this specimen is from the Paul Zerfass Collection (Collection #21). Zerfass built this worldwide collection over nearly 50 years. This specimen, that has survived within the collection for decades and then was eventually shipped to us from overseas, is more robust than it looks. Cabinet sized high quality specimens of Boulangerite especially with a captivating textural form in its natural non-included state are very uncommon and make a great addition to any worldwide or sulfides collection.