NICKELINE
Specimen nic-4

Dims: 3.7 x 2.3 x 1.3" (9.4 x 5.8 x 3.3 cm)

Wt: 6.11 oz. (173.2 g)

Nickel Mine, Cottonwood Canyon, near ghost town of Bolivia, Churchill County, Nevada, U.S.A.

This hand specimen consists of an amorphous chunk of Nickeline that is partly encrusted with a layer of what is likely annabergite. The Nickeline has a black coloration and a dull luster, and is essentially amorphous, so a damage assessment is not really applicable. However, close examination will show that the black color is caused by a decomposition coating that is only slightly worn in a few spots, where a tiny glimpse of the almost pinkish-gray coloration and metallic luster are peeking through. It is completely opaque, of course, and cracked and partly separated at one time. The cracks were subsequently filled in with the "annabergite". Besides these two minerals, there is no other material present.

Dims: 3.0 x 2.0 x 1.7" (7.6 x 5.1 x 4.3 cm)

Wt: 5.17 oz. (146.7 g)

Nickel Mine, Cottonwood Canyon, near ghost town of Bolivia, Churchill County, Nevada, U.S.A.

This piece consists of a chunk of amorphous Nickeline that is partly coated with a nickel mineral (likely annabergite). The Nickeline has a black color and a dull luster due to the presence of a decomposition coating, but close examination will reveal thin spots in the coating, where the almost pinkish-gray coloration and metallic luster of the mineral shines through. There is no actual host rock present, but the pale green "annabergite" is rather substantial, coating portions of the Nickeline in thick layers and extending in veins into the sulfide mineral.

Dims: 2.6 x 2.4 x 1.9" (6.6 x 6.1 x 4.8 cm)

Wt: 5.17 oz. (146.7 g)

Cu Pass Deposit, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

This small but heavy hand specimen consists of a nearly pure chunk of Nickeline. It is amorphous, showing no crystal form, and is in reasonably good condition. Most of the piece is covered with a thin layer of a powdery, pale green substance which may be annabergite. However, there is a substantial portion that is rather freshly broken, revealing the Nickeline beneath. It has a bright metallic luster and a silvery-gray coloration with a very subtle hit of pink. There is no host rock on the specimen.

Dims: 3.0 x 2.6 x 2.0" (7.6 x 6.6 x 5.1 cm)

Wt: 1 lb., 2.2 oz. (516 g)

Cu Pass Deposit, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

Most of the surface of this hand-sized Nickeline specimen is covered with a thin coating of a chalky, dull, pale-green material that may be annabergite. There is one rough face, however, that is the result of breakage and shows the metallic luster and pinkish, almost pale copper color of the amorphous, massive Nickeline. There are a few spots on this face which have a very dull luster; this may be evidence of a crevice in the material where it was later broken, or the material may have been broken once before, left to oxidize, and then broken again, though less severely so. There is no host rock present.

Dims: 2.8 x 2.6 x 1.6" (7.1 x 6.6 x 4.1 cm)

Wt: 1 lb., 2.8 oz. (534 g)

Cu Pass Deposit, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

This amorphous chunk of Nickeline is different from our other specimens in the fact that a substantial amount of host rock is attached to it. The host rock appears to be made up of a feldspar that is intersected by a few thin calcite or limestone veins. This host material has a pale gray coloration and a pearly luster, and is attached to the Nickeline along a very flat plane. The Nickeline itself has the standard high density, metallic luster, and pale, almost coppery pink-gray coloration. Some of its surfaces are covered with a thin layer of a pale green, powdery substance.

Dims: 3.1 x 2.9 x 1.0" (7.9 x 7.4 x 2.5 cm)

Wt: 1 lb., 2.3 oz. (519 g)

Cu Pass Deposit, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

This hand specimen consists of a chunk of nearly pure Nickeline that has a cut and polished face. The face and small amount of unpolished breakage surface show the pale, coppery-red coloration and metallic luster that are standard for Nickeline, and many tiny hairline cracks are visible through the polished face. Those rough faces that are not freshly broken are coated with a thin layer of a powdery, pale-green substance that is obviously a nickel mineral. There is also a small amount of what is likely a feldspar on one end of the piece.

Dims: 2.1 x 1.0 x 0.5" (5.2 x 2.5 x 1.3 cm)

Ait Hamane, Maroc

(2 pc.) This specimen consists of two chunks of massive Nickeline. Both are broken off of another piece, and thus show fresh breakage on most of their surfaces. Any original surfaces that are present show weathering and are mostly coated with a thin layer of annabergite dust. Their fresh surfaces show the classic pale coppery-red color and metallic luster.

Dims:1.0x0.7x0.5" (2.5x1.8x1.3 cm)

Wt: 0.7oz. (20g)w/box

Baita Biher, Romania

This specimen consists of a mass of golden-bronze nickeline on a piece of matrix. Upon examination with a loupe, it appears that this specimen may at least semi-crystalline. There is no damage to this specimen. It is secured within a plastic "perky" box.

Dims: 2.5x1.6x1.6" (6.4x4.1x4.0cm)

Wt: 5.88oz. (166.3g)

Wechselschacht, Richelsdorf, Hessen, Germany

This specimen is mostly nickeline, with crystals of the unidentified host mineral embedded in places. The nickeline has a distinctive and unusual color, not red enough to be copper, yet too red to be nickel. The specimen also has an appealing luster, espeically upon the brigher "fresh" faces, while the other side is somewhat dull.

Dims: 1.22x1.06x0.59" (3.1x2.7x1.5cm)

Wt: 0.88oz. (24.9g)

Germany

This specimen appears to be mostly nickeline. The color is a metallic red, a little more red than copper. It has a bit of a darker tarnish, irridescent under a loupe. The crystals on top of the specimen mostly have a rounded, almost botryoidal appearance, although there are a few small prismatic crystals. There is another mineral present, it is silvery white, metallic, and looks cleaved or striated in different places. I suspect that it is either silver or gersdorfite, although I am not certain of either.

Dims: 1.05x0.85x0.60" (2.66x2.17x1.53cm)

Wt: 1.04oz (29.4g)

Jachymov, Czech Republic

This specimen contains several distinct minerals, most notably pinkish metallic crystals of nickeline. These do not show good crystal form, as they are intergrown with another metalic mineral that is silvery-white in color, probably arsenopyrite. Also, there are several veins of a translucent white mineral, which does not show good crystals, although there are a few angles that look hexagonal (so it looks more like quartz than calcite).