Silver

specimen number:
8911185

location:
Hancock Mine, Houghton Co., Michigan, USA

description:
An excellent crystallized cluster of very large bright crystals of native silver, some of these measuring to 2.0 cm in size. There is very little attached matrix. In great condition. This weighs 5.6 ounces. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Alton collection, as well as a custom display base.

Located in Houghton County, Michigan, the Hancock Mine operated within the historic Portage Lake lava series of the Keweenaw Peninsula, a premier copper-mining district characterized by ancient Precambrian basalt flows and interbedded conglomerates. Native copper and associated silver mineralization formed via hydrothermal fluids circulating through permeable fault zones, vesicular basalt tops, and conglomerate horizons. Mining operations at the site began in the mid-nineteenth century and continued intermittently into the twentieth century, extracting massive amounts of native metal from deep underground shafts. For mineral collectors and mining historians, the Hancock Mine is particularly renowned for producing exceptional specimens of native silver, often occurring in intricate wire forms or intimately associated with native copper in classic Keweenaw paragenetic associations.

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