Cassiterite

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. Several great, sharp, semi-lustrous, beautiful, well-formed black and brown cyclic twinned crystals make for an appealing display piece. A slight brown color can be seen when the piece was backlit, which is not common for Cassiterite in general. The piece comes from my father’s collection, and was mined in the early 1980’s. His catalogue number (214) is still glued to the base of the specimen. Great quality all the way around, and certainly better than most from this locality. ex. Richard A. Kosnar collection Specimen # BOL711B174