Calcite on Schalenblende

A very good miniature of well crystallised, creamy-fawn translucent Calcite mostly covering a thin bed of brown and dark grey banded Sphalerite, variety Schalenblende. This specimen is from the Diepenlinchen mine at Mausbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. This was one of the most important mines in this lead-zinc ore field and was originally worked during the Roman occupation in the 2nd century AD. The Calcite forms slightly elongated rhombic crystals in the dog tooth habit, with a greasy to waxy lustre. The Schalenblende displays good banding beneath the specimen, with its upper display surface encrusted in deep clove-brown micro-crystals. The specimen is accompanied with a nice old German handwritten label in elegant copperplate script.