Fluorapophyllite-(K) [Apophyllite]

A beautiful small cabinet specimen of Fluorapophyllite-(K) from the Samson mine at St. Andreasberg,  Lower Saxony, Germany; a famous silver mine that closed in 1910.  A lustrous glassy druse of colourless Fluorapophyllite-(K) crystals entirely covers the top of a brecciated matrix.  The crystal are mainly 1 mm across, but a few develop to around 7 mm.  A lovely old-time specimen from this classic German mine.  The Archduke label is labelled “Apophyllite”, as it was named until the late Twentieth century.
Ex. the Mineral Collection of Archduke Stephan Franz Viktor of Hungary (1817 to 1867), with a historic Archduke (Erzherzog) Stephan label incorporating his coat of arms.  This label measures 9.9 x 8.1 cm and is complete.  The label is numbered 244/3 and a small label bearing this same number is glued beneath the specimen together with a Carl Rumpff label, dated 1889.