Cassiterite (GEM quality!)

A very impressive and certainly hard to find GEM quality Cassiterite specimen from the famous Viloco Mine. This locality bears the unique distinction of producing the only GEM quality (facet grade) Cassiterites from any mine in Bolivia. Considering the millions of tons of tin ore that Bolivia has yielded, the fact that only one mine ever produced transparent Cassiterite is remarkable. A fine, sharp, lustrous, beautiful, well-formed cyclic twinned crystal group sits atop tan compressed rhomobohedra of Siderite to create a beautiful “black and tan” association piece. The most impressive aspect of the specimen is the fact that the Cassiterite is incredibly gemmy when backlit, showing a range of colors from a light golden hue to an amber-cognac shade, and even the highly desirable and rarely seen RED, which is virtually impossible to find at Viloco. The piece comes from my father’s collection, and was mined in the early 1980’s. His catalogue number (399) is still glued to the base of the specimen. A small nick on the back of the Cassiterite keeps the piece from being 100% perfect, but it’s such a great rarity to have colorful, gem quality Cassiterite with any associated species from Viloco, that the damage is easily forgiven. Better quality than the photos indicate, and certainly a step above the vast majority of Cassiterites from Viloco. ex. Richard A. Kosnar collection Specimen # BOL711B158