Home > Continental Europe – December 31 > MS0838 Corkite

Corkite - Sold


Corkite is a lead iron sulfate phosphate mineral. Originally the mineral was classified as a variety of beudantite (a lead iron sulfate arsenate), but later work distinguished the two minerals, beudantite as an arsenate, and corkite as a phosphate (Rammelsberg, 1857; Dauber, 1857). Corkite takes its name from County Cork in Ireland. Bayliss et al. (2010) includes the current IMA recommended nomenclature of this mineral group. Interestingly, this specimen carries an old German label with name "Beudantit" which dates the specimen to the middle of the nineteenth century (by its nomenclature choice). This specimen is a vuggy piece of compact limonite matrix with several pockets of crystals to 1 mm. The crystal habit varies from pseudo-octahedral (rhombohedra with pinacoids) to pseudo-cubic (simple rhombohedra). One area shows a broken corkite epimorph of pyromorphite; there is fresh pyromorphite in the matrix. This specimen was part of the personal collection of Ralph Merrill, proprietor of the prolific mail order business Minerals Unlimited, obtained in 1956. Merrill's collection card and label also ship with the specimen.