Cassiterite

specimen number:
1052693

location:
Sauberg Mine, Ehrenfriedersdorf, Saxony, Germany

description:
A superb example of this European classic with lustrous sharp crystals of cassiterite to 1.5 cm red size on matrix with quartz. Minor fluorite present as well. Siderite crystals are in super condition. The quartz crystal is present on the backside of the piece that is broken. This is seen in the video. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video. The piece was originally acquired through community dealer Wilhelm Maucher in 1909.

The Sauberg mine, located at Ehrenfriedersdorf within the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) district of Saxony, Germany, is a globally renowned historical locality celebrated for its exceptional, mirror-lustrous twins and complex crystal aggregates of cassiterite (tin oxide). Geologically, this world-class deposit is centered on a series of late Variscan-age (approximately 300 million years old) highly evolved post-orogenic granite intrusions that penetrated a thick sequence of Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic mica schists and gneisses. Hydrothermal greisenization and pneumatolytic processes fractured the granite exocontact, creating a dense network of steeply dipping quartz-baryte-fluorite veins and stockworks rich in cassiterite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, and fluorite, frequently hosting magnificent, cyclic twin crystals of tin stone inside open, hydrothermal pockets. Historically, primitive alluvial panning and surface quarrying for tin began as early as the thirteenth century, with formal underground shaft sinking and organized drainage tunneling commencing around 1380. The Sauberg mine evolved into the core structural producer of the Ehrenfriedersdorf district, operating with remarkable multi-century continuity through several technological transformations, including intensive modernizations during the twentieth century under the state-owned Soviet-German SDAG Wismut and later the VEB Albert Funk mining combine. Large-scale industrial underground extraction finally reached commercial depletion and ceased permanent operations on October 3, 1990, following the reunification of Germany.

Wilhelm Maucher (1879 through 1930) was a prominent German mineralogist, academic curator, and commercial mineral dealer based in Munich, Germany, who played a major role in distributing high-quality European and African specimens during the early twentieth century. Early in his career, Maucher served as the official custodian in charge of the prestigious mineral repository at the Freiberg Mining Academy in Saxony, where he conducted groundbreaking research and published the first systematic mineralogical investigation on the complex secondary ore zones of Tsumeb, Namibia. In 1908, he transitioned into a full-time commercial entrepreneur by establishing a highly respected mineral dealership in Munich, leveraging his extensive academic connections to source rare Alpine minerals, classic Saxon crystallizations, and newly discovered Tsumeb oxidation products for prominent global institutions including the British Museum. His deep scientific contributions to economic geology and systematic mineralogy were permanently immortalized in 1913 when a newly discovered nickel arsenide mineral from Eisleben, Germany, was officially named maucherite in his honor.

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