NATIVE TELLURIUM from old locale, ex. Velte Coll.

Item Description

We originally misread this label as indicating that this was the tellurium-rich species Sylvanite, from New Mexico. However, there actually IS a district named "Sylvanite" and opur original erroneous read on this rare old piece has now been corrected. Native tellurium specimens are very rare and seldom available from the historic mines of New Mexico. This is a super-rich and showy example for what it is. Sparkling, golden-silvery microcrystals are present to some extent on all faces, but are festooned on three sides of the matrix. Perhaps some of the sharper crystals are sylvanite, but I am told that the tellurium itself is known from finds here by a customer who saw this posting and gave us this information: These were found during gold exploration and described from Grant County in the 1932 American Mineralogist, before there was a mine name to attach (Grant county is adjacent to Hidalgo County on today's maps). Exceedingly rich, old-time material from the Charles Velte Collection. Hefty ore at 108 grams. - never seen another. Velte had a storehouse of incredible old rarities and the collection dates to the early to mid 1900s.