Stibnite with Quartz

specimen number:
1052655

location:
Baia Sprie, Maramures Co., Romania

description:
A neat specimen from this classic locality, this a cluster of metallic needlelike stibnite crystals without matrix. These are accented beautifully with sparkling colorless crystals of quartz. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video. The label gives an original acquisition date of 1913. There are no points of attachment, this is crystallized completely all around.

The town of Baia Sprie, historically known by the Hungarian name Felsobanya, is located in the Maramures region of northern Romania and represents one of the most significant hydrothermal ore deposits in the Carpathian Mountains. Geologically, the area is situated within the Neogene-age volcanic arc, where base metal mineralization occurred in the form of extensive epithermal veins cutting through andesitic and dacitic host rocks. These veins are world-renowned for their complex mineralogy, producing exceptional specimens of stibnite, barite, and various silver-lead-zinc sulfides within a gangue of quartz and calcite. Historically, mining and quarrying at Felsobanya have a long and storied past, with gold and silver extraction documented as early as the 14th century under the Hungarian crown. Intensive industrial operations reached their zenith during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the site became a major center for the Austro-Hungarian mining industry. Although many of the large-scale state-run mining operations officially ceased in the early 2000s, the locality remains a cornerstone of European mineralogy.

Themak Ede (active late 19th and early 20th century) was a Hungarian mineral dealer based in Temesvar, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now Timisoara, Romania. He operated during a golden age of European mineralogy, specializing in high-quality specimens from the prolific mining districts of the Carpathian Mountains and the Banat region. Themak is particularly noted for his contributions to mineralogical science through the distribution of rare and well-crystallized species from localities such as Dognacska (Dognacecea) and Vasko (Ocna de Fier).

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