Cassiterite (excellent twins) on Muscovite

Item Description

There are a few signature mineral species from Pingwu, namely Beryl (Aquamarine and Goshenite), Scheelite and Cassiterite. There is no other place on earth that produced these three minerals together in the same size and quality as those from Pingwu. They are simply some of the most unique and attractive pieces from any Chinese locality. This particular piece features many top quality, very sharp, lustrous, jet-black color, twinned crystals groups (showing repeated contact twinning on the {101} faces) of Cassiterite measuring up to 2.0 cm which are sitting atop a crystallized matrix of compressed, bladed, silvery Muscovite. It's rare to find such fine quality examples with Cassiterite like this in the modern era of mineral collecting, the only comparable specimens in terms of the style and the matrix are old classics from various localities in either Europe or Australia. The quality is superb all around on this piece, and I can't find any damage on the front/display side. A great quality association specimen from this unique locality. Priced at $3,750. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=671&page=1 ) or on Wikipedia.