Manganite (TYPE LOCALITY circa 1880s)

Item Description

Manganite from Ilfeld is one of those great minerals that readily dispels the old adage that "it's just a black mineral" for beauty of shape and form. In reality, the luster and form of these prismatic crystals is so good, and so consistent, that the phrase among collectors truly is, "it's an Ilfeld." Many Ilfeld Manganites are often composed of numerous, slender and lustrous crystals, but this is one of those rarely-available pieces where the Manganites reach quite substantial sizes. In this case, the largest of the large is an impressive 2.1 cm tall and 1.3 cm wide! Most of the crystals are terminated, and they shine no matter what the level of light. And Ilfeld is the TYPE LOCALITY, to boot! Aesthetic Ilfeld Manganites, which are notoriously hard to obtain, are quickly scooped up when they are available. Excellent provenance, being formerly in the collections of Charles Shepard (1804-1886), Andrew Toussaint (1906-1974) and more recently of Robert Lambert, Steven Chamberlain and then Richard Rossi. Because of the specimen's color uniformity, it is hard to shoot photos so do watch the video please. Trust when I say that this is MUCH better in person. Rossi paid $3500 to John Betts, who had the Lambert collection portion that contained it, in 2008. It is worth much more than that, today, in our opinion. This is a significant, robust specimen.