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[Sante Celiberti]

Hello.

A friend asked me to accompany him to see an apartment for sale.
In the entrance, on a small piece of furniture, I saw a wonderful pyrite.
I'm used to these meetings because, although all the mines in the area have been closed for at least 30 years, traces of past mining are still present in our territory.
I asked the owner for permission to examine the specimen and, while I observed it, he told me that his father-in-law worked in the Niccioleta mine and then added: "If you like it, you can take it away": Of course, he didn't have to repeat it twice.

The pyrite was glued with bostik on a wooden base, as was done 50 years ago. It was not difficult to uncouple it from its base, but it was the identification of the provenance,
Among the four big Tuscan pyrite mines (Elba, Gavorrano, Niccioleta and Boccheggiano) I immediately excluded the last two for not having produced these type of crystals.
The doubt remains between Elba and Gavorrano, as both produced big pyritohedra with some "windows" on the faces and modifications of the cube, octahedron and diploid on the edges and corners.
The total absence of hematite, which always accompanies - at list in traces - the large Elban crystals and which is almost absent in Gavorrano, makes me lean towards the latter mine. But the presence of iron crosses, frequent on Elba and rare on Gavorrano, makes me lead towards the first.

After so many years, for my shame, the specimen is still cataloged "Pyrite - Toscana", although I'm almost certain that it is Elban.

Best regards,
Sante