Cerussite with Malachite (great provenance)

Item Description

A wonderful antique specimen labeled as coming from "Pialanos", in the Clausthal-Zellerfeld area of the Harz Mountains. I can't find a listing for this locality specifically, so the name certainly could have changed over time, and was lost to the annals of history. This area is an ancient lead-zinc mining district, dating back to the 12th century, and mining stopped after World War I. The historic significance of the piece is not just in the old locality, but the fact that it was part of the collection of Archduke Stephan Franz Victor of Habsburg-Lorraine (1817–1867) ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-608697.html ), one of the premier mineral collectors in Europe during his time. Stephan amassed a collection of over 20,000 specimens, mostly from European localities, any many of them were some of the finest examples of their respective species in existence at the time. In addition to the Archduke's label, this piece comes with a wonderful old hand-written label from an unknown collection written in German, which references "Bleicarbonat" = Cerussite along with "Bleioxid" which references either Massiotite, Plattnerite or Minium today, and "Bleispat" = Wulfenite. The name Malachite is also present on the label. Upon close inspection, you can see thin, prismatic white to grey colored "needle"-like crystals of Cerussite, some of which have formed in "jackstraw"-esque groups, which are sitting on a thin layer of velvety green Malachite. I was able to find a few orange spots that I believe are the "Bleioxid" mentioned on the label, and one tiny tabular crystal of Wulfenite, so it appears all the species mentioned on the label are still present on the specimen. Obviously the piece is more of a reference specimen than anything else, but the fact that there is so much documentation and well-preserved labels accompanying it makes it incredibly desirable for any fan of historic specimens. The piece also comes with an from Rocks and Minerals detailing the Archduke's life. An incredibly rare, historic, antique specimen from one of the world's most famous mineral collections.
From the collection of George Elling, a prominent East Coast collector, with a dealer label from Excalibur Mineral Co.