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Wulfenite


Wulfenite is a simple lead molybdate with a long history. In 1785, Austrian natural historian Franz Xavier von Wulfen (1728-1805) published a monumental treatise Abhandlung vom kärnthnerischen Bleyspate on lead minerals from Bleiberg, Austria. Wulfen's work is lavishly illustrated with 21 hand-colored engravings, some of which show a yellow to red crystalline lead mineral. In his 1845 Handbuch der bestimmenden Mineralogie, Austrian mineralogist Wilhelm Haidinger (1795-1871) recognized Wulfen's contribution by renaming those yellow to red crystals as wulfenite. Wulfenite enjoys great popularity among collectors, which prompted the Mineralogical Record to publish an annotated reprint of Wulfen's work, limited to 150 copies (and itself now a collectible).

Wulfenite here forms dipyramidal crystals to 5 mm, scattered alongside gray calcite crystals over a limestone matrix. From the collection of E.R. Laskowski (1949-2020), a mining engineer who retired to Tucson, Arizona.

Price: $200

Item code: MS1876

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