Galena

The Julia Fisk Mine is one of the more notable specimen producing mines in the Leadville District, especially since it was one of the few Leadville mines to produce Rhodochrosite.

This specimen hosts dozens of sharp, cuboctahedra of silvery Galena associated with small striated pyritohedra of golden Pyrite, plus some small black groups of highly modified Sphalerite crystals on tan “discs” of Siderite matrix. Perhaps the two most interesting aspects of the piece are the smaller crystals i.e. dozens of the most unusual scepter habit Quartz crystals resembling “nail heads” on the terminations, or perhaps more appropriately, melted candles in appearance. I have photographed these strange Quartz crystals under the microscope to better illustrate their quality. Lastly, as mentioned above, small, compressed rhombohedra of pale pink Rhodochrosite can be seen on the reverse side of the specimen, making this a wonderful association specimen with a minimum of seven species present.

The Leadville mining district was the most productive silver-mining region in Colorado. As of 1963 the cumulative production of the area was 240 million troy ounces of Silver = $6.6 billion at today’s prices.

Specimen# CO712B48