Plumbogummite replacing Pyromorphite (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

Please note, the Plumbogummite specimens that have been on the market for the last few years (often associated with or pseudomorphing after Pyromorphite) have been labeled as coming from the Daoping Mine, but according to Berthold Ottens, these specimens are in fact from Laohu. The message board on mindat.org has a more detailed discussion about this material and the locality ( http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,7,359222,359822#msg-359822 ). With that said, this piece is a lovely example of the material featuring sharp, well-formed, hexagonal crystals of green Pyromorphite which have been replaced / pseudomorphed / coated by dark blue to grey-blue Plumbogummite. Additionally, one can see spherical / botryoidal Plumbogummite "balls" measuring up to 8 mm across on the piece as well. If you backlight the specimen, you can see the lovely green color inside! A few small contacts keep the piece from being 100% perfect, but it's still a very good example of this elusive material. These are not the typical replacements that we're used to seeing from China, and this piece stands out as a fine quality specimen that would make a great addition to any secondary ore collection or a suite of Chinse minerals. Valued at $900. 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.