Proustite

specimen number:
1052059

location:
Stara Vozice - Ratiborske Hory, Tabor, South Bohemian, Czech Republic

description:

Superb lustrous sharp undamaged crystals of proustite measuring to 0.9 cm in height coming off matrix with crystallized dolomite. Note the antique label that comes with the specimen as shown at the end of the video. The date of acquisition was 1914, the note on the label states that the locality closed 50 years prior.

Proustite is a rare silver arsenic sulfosalt mineral (Ag₃AsS₃), often called ruby silver for its striking scarlet-vermilion colour and adamantine luster. It forms in hydrothermal silver-rich veins and was named after the French chemist Joseph Louis Proust for his work in chemical analysis.

In the Ratiborske Hory–Stará Vozice mining district of South Bohemia — a historic Ag-Pb-Zn ore field where silver mining began in the 1500s and continued into the mid 19th century. This region produced a variety of silver minerals alongside others such as acanthite, native silver, and pyrargyrite as part of its polymetallic ore assemblages.

This area is a historically significant silver mining district where proustite occurs in the oxidized zones of veins, reflecting the long tradition of silver ore extraction in this part of Bohemia.

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