Description
Deep yellow radial sprays of silky acicular Cacoxenite crystals line cavities on a gossan matrix from the Eleonore Mine in the Hessian Biebertal. Manganese-bearing iron ore was recovered from the mine from 1856 until its abandonment in 1929. Cacoxenite is a rare iron phosphate with a funny story to its name. The species name is derived from the Greek word for "bad" "guest" due to the fact that the phosphorous content of Cacoxenite lessens the quality of iron smelted from Cacoxenite-bearing ore. The specimen comes with a historic label from the mineral dealership of the Royal Saxon Mining Academy in Freiberg (K. S. Mineralien Niederlage), handwritten by Rudolph Wappler who was the director of the dealership fromin 1851-1888.