A really fascinating specimen from a very unusual location, consisting of schalenblende partly forming ribs which are overgrown by white to transparent colourless calcite crystals.

Schalenblende - "Shell Ore" is a mixture of sphalerite and wurtzite.

The Breinigerberg mine at Breinigerberg near Stolberg was a zinc mine of the famous Aachen-Stolberg Zn-Pb district, which also included the Vieille Montagne deposits in Kelmis/La Calamine, Belgium. Whilst schalenblende from the Schmalgraf Mine in Kelmis is more common among mineral collectors and samples still can be found in minor amounts the Stolberg area has produced minor collection specimens. Most of them originated from the Diepenlinchen Mine, Henriette shaft. Breinigerberg samples are very hard to obtain.

This specimen is special in two ways:

first it is one of the few documented samples from this mine out of the mining period.

Second: most schalenblende specimens of this ore district are massive ore or polished slabs of massive ore. Only few show the botroidal structure of the surface towards the open space in the ore vein and even less exhibit later formed minerals at the surface in good condition.

So this should be a must-have for the connoisseur.

The specimen is from the late 19th century and comes with two beautiful old labels, specimen from the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.