TELLURIUM
Specimen tel-1
$ 75.00Dims: 1.2" x 1.0" x 0.9" (3.0 x 2.5 x 2.3 cm)
Wt: 16.7 g
Kawazu Mine, Shimoda shi, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
I think that this native Tellurium specimen, apart from being rather rare, is our first to come from Japan. It consists of what appears to be a pale brown quartzite host rock in which several spots of Tellurium are embedded. They are very small, not measuring more than 2 mm in any visible dimension, and most of what is visible lies on a freshly broken face of the rock. Thus, it is impossible to see any "damage". The Tellurium has a moderate gray coloration and a metallic luster that is quite bright in a few tiny patches. There seems to be a substantial amount of the material visible on some of the host rock's dirtier surfaces, but it would take some cleaning and maybe even a bit of light sanding to make certain.