Ferberite with Siderite and Quartz

Item Description

An actually quite important specimen from the old 1960s-1970s heyday of this famous Portugal tin mine, with huge crystals of one of the most classic species from the mine, the metallic ferberite. This specimen features a huge, sharp, complete crystal to 11 cm tall, perched aesthetically on matrix! The matrix is quartz and muscovite, very sparkly itself to contrast to the jet black ferberite. Here, this is a hefty, large, important display specimen from the world famous classic locale best known for this species. As an aside: Chinese material of similar form is wolframite, while these are ferberites (although early Chinese labels habitually declared Yaogangxian for ferberites, most were wolframite and only a few small chemically legit ferberites ever came out).....so when people think these are common, they are really not. Often, photos of the two species are mixed up online. Valued $4500-5000, for a display quality old classic that meets modern criteria.