Siderite

specimen number:
1052765

location:
Traversella, Turin, Piedmont, Italy

description:
Lustrous lenticular crystals of siderite to 1.5 cm in size very nice across the top of matrix. This is in very good condition. Classic old Italian specimen. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video. The original acquisition date on this piece is in 1904.

The Traversella mining district, situated in the Chiusella Valley of the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, Italy, is a historic alpine locality renowned for its rich polymetallic and contact-metamorphic mineral deposits. Geologically, the deposit formed along the contact zone between a late Oligocene-age quartz-diorite pluton and older Paleozoic-age mica schists and dolomitic limestones belonging to the Sesia-Lanzo structural zone. The intrusion of hot, magmatic fluids triggered intense metasomatism, creating complex skarn bodies rich in magnetite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and scheelite. Historically, small-scale surface quarrying and primitive underground extraction for iron and copper ores date back to the Roman period and the early Middle Ages, with formal documentation appearing as early as the thirteenth century. Large-scale industrial underground shaft mining accelerated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under various private concessions and corporate entities, maximizing production to supply regional ironworks and chemical factories with iron, copper, and tungsten ores. Following decades of declining ore grades, high operational costs in the rugged alpine terrain, and intense global competition, commercial mining activity steadily decreased after World War II, culminating in the permanent cessation of all industrial mining operations at the site in 1971.

The mineral dealership of C. Riemer, based in Magdeburg, Germany, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, operated as a notable regional distributor of specialized geological and mineralogical specimens tailored for educational institutions, academic researchers, and advanced private collectors. Functioning alongside contemporaneous central German enterprises, Riemer specialized in sourcing, documenting, and preparing mineral suites that prominently featured classic structural occurrences from regional German volcanic zones, the Harz Mountains, and the famous salt and potash deposits of the Saxony-Anhalt region, such as Stassfurt and Leopoldshall. His commercial business catalogs and meticulously curated specimen assemblies targeted the expanding demands of technical universities and scientific associations during a highly active period of European mineralogical classification and economic geology. The dealership provided meticulously labeled reference pieces, frequently mounted or resting on distinct, hand-written or stamped white paper merchant tags that explicitly preserved the precise mineral chemistry, crystallization style, and localized mine provenance.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.