SPERRYLITE
Specimen spr-1

Dims: 0.43x0.32x0.31" (1.10x0.82x0.79cm)

Wt: 0.10oz (2.70g)

Talnakh near Norilsk, Russia

I am quite impressed by this specimen, partly because it is a platinum mineral (platinum arsenide). Platinum is both more valuable and more rare than gold, and minerals containing platinum as a significant constituent are even more rare. I am also impressed by the crystals - they are bright and lustrous, tin-white in color, and have a combination form that in places looks cubic, and in others looks like a pyritohedron. These crystals are sharp, not rounded like most sperrylite specimens. They do have a surface tarnish in places (which dulls the luster), and the bright faces appear (with the aid of a loupe) to have a network of fine surface cracks. There is another mineral present, on the bottom and between the larger sperrylite crystals, that looks like chalcopyrite.