Vanadinite

specimen number:
1052800

location:
Bad Bleiberg, Villach-Land, Carinthia, Austria

description:
sparkling crystals of vanadinite measuring to 0.2 cm in size across matrix. Neat locality example for the species. The specimen comes with a set of antique labels as shown at the end of the video. The labels give an acquisition date of 1910.

The Bad Bleiberg mining district, located in Carinthia, Austria, is a historic lead-zinc mining locality situated within the Gailtal Alps. Geologically, the deposit belongs to the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) classification, where stratabound mineralization is hosted within Upper Triassic carbonate rocks, specifically the Wetterstein limestone and dolomite formations. Hydrothermal fluids migrating through regional fault zones deposited primary galena and sphalerite within fractures and dissolution cavities, which later underwent extensive weathering to form a famous suite of secondary minerals, including prominent wulfenite and cerussite specimens. Historical records indicate that localized surface mining for lead began as early as the fourteenth century, with formal operations expanding significantly during the sixteenth century under regional mining guilds. Industrial-scale underground extraction reached its peak under the Bleiberger Bergwerks-Union during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, continuously producing vast quantities of lead and zinc until ore exhaustion and high production costs forced the permanent closure of the mining operations in 1993, after which the town transitioned into a thermal spa resort.

Dr. L. Eger was a prominent Austrian natural history dealer and mineralogist based in Vienna, active from the late nineteenth century into the opening decade of the twentieth century through his commercial enterprise, Dr. L. Eger's Mineralien Comptoir. Operating from a central location on Giselastrasse, his business specialized in sourcing, documenting, and distributing high-quality mineral specimens, fossils, and educational systematic suites to major university museums, research institutions, and affluent private collectors globally. Eger maintained a highly sophisticated trade network, collaborating frequently with other legendary contemporary dealers like Dr. A. Krantz of Bonn to acquire rare European and international pieces, and even publishing mineral indexes that announced newly discovered localities or unusual mineral variants.

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