MOSCHELLANDSBERGITE with CINNABAR TETRAHEDRITE on SIDERITE

SPECIMEN DESCRIPTION

A rich large miniature (or small cabinet specimen) of the rare silver amalgam Moschellandsbergite, from its type locality in the ancient mercury mining district of Landsberg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, south-west of Frankfurt am Main. Moschellandsberg hill (now shortened to Landsberg), is within a region rich in mercury and mercury minerals, where mining began in around 1440. Because of mercury's unique property of being the only liquid metal at ambient conditions, it has been known since ancient times, and is thought to have been first discovered by the Ancient Egyptians, prior to 1,500 BCE. The Moschellandsbergite forms highly modified, well developed, sub-millimetre isometric crystals, displaying hexagonal and pentagonal faces. Bright, scarlet to blood red Cinnabar crystals of similar size are also richly scattered through the mineralised 30 x 8 x 15 mm vug. A very fine specimen of this super-rare, natural silver-mercury alloy. For any specimens containing mercury and or mercury bearing minerals, it is a sensible precaution to always wash your hands after handling.