This is an iconic German Native Silver from the heart of the famous Freiberg District in the 'Ore Mountains'. Featuring a tangled nest of the most beautiful tarnished Native Silver wires on top of a contrasting white Quartz veinstone matrix. The area of Native Silver wires extends to 3.5 x 3 x 3 cm sitting like a crown with a superb dappled historic-looking patina, varying from pinkish metallic silver to grey and black. This prestigious Himmelsfürst mine Native Silver is ex Horst Wolle Collection. Silver mining started at Himmelsfürst during the 16th century and continued intermittently for nearly five centuries with final closure in 1969. Most historic specimens labelled as from Himmelsfürst date to the 18th or 19th centuries but matrix-hosted Native Silver specimens are extremely rare from there. This small cabinet sized specimen is certainly a stunning display piece and under magnification the wires are seem to be interspersed with tiny grey cubes of possible Acanthite.
