Stannite

specimen number:
2262318

location:
San Jose Mine, Oruro, Bolivia

description:
Very choice cluster of well crystallized stannite for this classic locality. In good condition. The specimen comes with several previous labels as shown at the end of the video.

The San Jose mine, situated directly within the city limits of Oruro, Bolivia, was a cornerstone corporate underground operation within the historic Oruro mining district. Geologically, the deposit is a premier example of a polymetallic telescoped vein system hosted within the Oruro porphyry complex, where Miocene-age dacite domes intruded tightly folded Paleozoic shale and quartzite formations. Intense hydrothermal activity deposited dense networks of complex silver-bearing sulfosalts, galena, pyrite, and tetrahedrite, which were later overprinted by massive concentrations of cassiterite (tin oxide) alongside rare minerals like franckeite and cylindrite. Historically, localized exploitation began during the pre-Inca era, but mechanized industrial development accelerated in the late nineteenth century, culminating in formal corporate ownership by tin baron Mauricio Hochschild in the early twentieth century. Following the Bolivian National Revolution, the property was nationalized in 1952 under the state mining enterprise COMIBOL, which managed large-scale shaft extraction and mineral processing until a catastrophic collapse in global metal prices forced the formal closure of state-run corporate operations at the site in 1986. Following a period of abandonment, the underground workings were systematically reactivated by independent mining cooperatives during the 1990s, who continue to utilize the historic shafts for small-scale, labor-intensive extraction of silver, lead, and tin through 2026.

Lawrence Conklin was a world-renowned mineral dealer based in New York City, widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and sophisticated figures in the history of the mineral trade. Operating from his office on 5th Avenue and later from his home in Connecticut, Conklin specialized in "antique" minerals and specimens with significant historical provenance. He was a meticulous researcher and an elegant writer, often publishing articles that corrected historical errors in mineralogical literature. His career spanned over five decades, during which he handled some of the finest known specimens from classic European and American localities, setting a high standard for aesthetic quality and documentation in the field.

William W. Pinch (1940 to 2017) of Rochester, New York, was a world-renowned mineral collector and self-taught mineralogist who made extraordinary contributions to both amateur and professional mineralogy. Over several decades, he assembled one of the finest and most comprehensive private collections of rare, systematically organized mineral specimens ever created, with an emphasis on type species and meticulously documented chemical and crystallographic localities. Pinch was widely respected by academic institutions for his exceptional ability to identify unknown mineral phases, collaborating closely with professional mineralogists and museums globally to provide critical reference materials that led to the description of dozens of new species. In recognition of his massive impact on the mineralogical community, the rare bismuth copper mineral pinchite, discovered in Terlingua, Texas, was officially named in his honor in 1974. His first monumental collection was acquired by the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa in 1989 to serve as a national research standard, after which he immediately began building a second world-class mineral and rare book collection that he maintained and studied in Rochester until his passing.

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