Mimetite

With familiar mineral species it is all too easy to think they have been known from time immemorial.  But with Mimetite this is not the case and this specimen is from its type locality within the Johanngeorgenstadt silver-uranium mining area in the district of Erzgebirge in Saxony, Germany.  This is a delightful miniature which has two small yet bright and lustrous acidic yellow Mimetite crystals contrasting against a carpet of carmine red matrix.  The slightly larger of the two crystals is 5 mm long and both form hexagonal prisms terminated with flat pinacoids, with a slight bevel between prism face and pinacoid.  Under low magnification the prisms vary from gemmy to translucent with internal reflections as it filled with crumpled foil.