Although famous as a silver mining town, specimens of silver ores, and in particular Native Silver, are just so rarely seen attributed to St. Andreasberg in the Harz mountains. This cabinet-sized display specimen is simply amazing, both for its richness in 'nests' of Native Silver wires, size, but also its superb association, with beautiful small white Calcite crystals covering a much larger cleaved mass of Calcite, and small needle-like colourless Rock Crystal Quartz crystals sat upon the surface. Matrix-hosted wire silvers are now almost impossible to find from St. Andreasberg, where the mines closed in 1910, but to have such a perfectly crystallized matrix too is unheard of. The largest area of Native Silver reaches 3.7 x 2 cm, but many other fine 'nests' can be seen, all with a lovely historic tarnish. In stunning condition this - what surely must be very old - specimen is simply charming. Ex Professor Werner Paar Collection, it comes with an old printed Manfred Baumstark (b. 1954) label.
