FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello, Don.

Thank you for your kind comment.
As you can see on the site just mentioned by Bob Morgan, the number of habits and shapes of pyrite is very high...
Warm greetings and take care.

Hello, Bob.

For me too is a pleasure to meet another pyrite crystallography enthusiast.
The Italian pyrites that you posted are very interesting.
I looked at your article on the Rochester Science web-site with great interest. Sincere congratulations.
I will send you an MP. Warm greetings from Tuscany.


In the next pyrite from Gavorrano there is an intruder... I hope you like it.

Best regards and stay safe.
Sante

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello.

Niccioleta has been a glorious mine for its spectacular pyrites and gypsums.
Pyrite crystals sometimes exceeded the 20 cm and seldom have been found crystals of gypsum over one meter long.

Greetings from Tuscany.
Sante

[Tobi]

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello, Tobi.

Thank you again for your kind words.
I remember perfectly the evening when a miner, having finished his shift, showed up with me with this piece before he even went to his house for dinner. He probably needed money for his large family. I generously rewarded him, as I have always done with all the miners, not forgetting that my father-in-law was also one of them.

Here is a small but doubly rare piece: first because, unlike Niccioleta, very few samples of this element came out from Gavorrano (I know of only one other); secondly because the association with quartz is very unusual.
I hope you like it.

Warm greetings from Gavorrano.
Sante

[Tobi]

Great story about how you got the selenite specimen. Directly from a miner who just finished his work, I think only self-collected could be better!

[Sante Celiberti]

Thank you, Tobi.
I let you imagine how many stories can be accumulated in over fifty years of collecting.
And you are also on your way with your thirty years (if I'm not mistaken) of mineralogical passion.

Cinnabar was one of the the most exploited minerals in south Tuscany.

Warm greetings and take care.
Sante

[Tobi]

Again a true museum piece, Sante, what an impressive cinnabar!

[Sante Celiberti]

Thank you, Tobi.
I'll continue this thread, Covid 19 permitting... :-)

Stibnite was another much exploited sulphide in Grosseto Province.
The most important mines, among many others, were:
- Manciano (Tafone mine, Montauto mine, San Martino sul Fiora mine);
- Capalbio (Torre Carige mine);
- Magliano (Pereta mine).

Here a sample from Pereta mine.

Warm greetings. Stay safe.
Sante

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello. I hope you all are well.

The Tuscan mineral par exellence was pyrite.
Apart from Elba island, the most important mines, all in Grosseto province, were in this order:
- Gavorrano mine;
- Niccioleta mine;
- Boccheggiano mine.

Here a sample from Gavorrano.

Warm greetings. Take care.
Sante

[Tobi]

[Firmo Espinar]

Hi Sante,

Wow nice Pyrite treasure.

Also the three pointed Quartz star with Sulphur is gorgeous.

[Sante Celiberti]

Thank you, Tobi and Firmo. You are very kind.

Here is a specimen from the most important Italian stibnite mine.

Warm greetings.
Sante

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello.

This pyrite has a different style.
It is known that the triglyph striations in cubes indicate the dodecahedral nature of pyrite, and that of Gavorrano is characterizated by a strong tension between the two habits.
I hope you find it interesting.

Warm greetings.
Sante

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello.

Two pyrites from two different Tuscan localities, but with the same unusual habit.

Greetings.
Sante

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello.

Another well represented species from the Grosseto province in Tuscany.

Best greetings.
Sante