Sphalerite (GEMMY crystals)

Item Description

An attractive specimen of Sphalerite from the Dzhezkazgan Mining District in Kazakhstan featuring many excellent, sharp, crystal groups measuring up to 1.3 cm, which have are rather gemmy, and show mixed colors ranging from golden to a greenish-yellow hue, sitting on matrix. No major damage that I can see, but there are a few small nicks. There are Sphalerite crystals on both sides of the piece as well. It's important to remember that most Sphalerites from various worldwide localities are black, so to find colorful gemmy crystals like this is a big deal. Additionally, it's worth noting that Sphalerite is one of the few transparent sulfides in the world, most sulfides are completely opaque. The piece was mined in the early 1990s and comes from the collection of Richard ("Rich") A. Kosnar (1946-2007), well-known dealer and mineral collector from Colorado, and the namesake for the rare species Kosnarite. Rich acquired a good number of Russian minerals in the 1990s after the fall of Soviet Union, assembling a nice suite of Dalnegorsk specimens.