Click picture to enlarge. Unless noted all specimens are from Bill & Diana Dameron’s barite suite
Alba, Baia de Aries (Offenbánya in Hungarian) |
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Part of the famous gold locality which includes Verespatak. Bancroft reports old sources reporting large pockets of sizable white and green barite crystals. |
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Maramures, Baia Mare, Baia Sprie (formerly Felsöbánya in Hungarian) |
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The Baia Mare area includes Baia Sprie & Herja. Cavnic is 30 kilometers east. Labels are often mixed up among these localities. Many forms and colors. From left:
- Grey-blue tabular 2.5 cm blades rimmed with white 7 cm;
- 14 cm plate of delicate short pale yellow-white needles to 0.7 cm;
- Thick, clear tabular crystals with stibnite inclusions, to 1.5 cm, with sprays of short glossy stibnite needles;
- Transparent blades to 5.5 cm coated with 3 mm brown siderite balls, 6 cm;
- Bright, very translucent golden tabular blades to 3 cm in 9 cm group;
- Very thin blades to 1.5 cm, reddish from realgar or orpiment inclusions, with tiny stibnite needles, 7 cm;
- Very red thin blades to 0.9 cm with tiny stibnites, 4.5 cm;
- Clear tabular blades to 1.5 cm with stibnite needles, 10 cm;
- Thick tabular parallel blades to 3 cm with red rims (realgar - often labeled Cavnic but some experts say the realgar inclusions are all from Baia Sprie), 6 cm specimen;
- Thin clear/milky blades to 2.5 cm each on amethyst crystal;
- Thin "spears" to 1.5 cm in thick groups, clear with orangish-red centers, overall orange color, 6.5 cm;
- Bright red realgar-included piece (Ian Bruce specimen), about 9 cm.
- Red realgar-included spears to 0.7 cm, 5x5 cm.
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Maramures, Baia Mare, Herja mine (Herzsabánya in Hungarian) |
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Blue/gray blades to 4.5 cm, zoned with blue, cream color near neat complex tips, 7.5 cm; sawtooth milky thick tabular crystals to 7 cm, with short stibnite spray 7 cm; gemmy tabular light gold crystals to 3 cm in groups on small, milky quartz crystals with sprays of short stibnite to 1.5 cm, sphalerite matrix; 10x15 cm specimen.; Milky tranluscent blades in complex groups to 3 cm, thin, good luster. All together on one side of specimen; remainder is spray of stibnite blades to 2.5x0.5 cm, decent but not good luster, terminations duller but all seem complete. 7x8 cm. |
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Maramures, Cavnic (Kapnikbánya in Hungarian) |
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Dark blue thin spears (like Taxco, but darker; irradiated?) to 2.5 cm, 10 cm overall; thick blades to 3 cm on edge with (most likely) stibnite inclusions. |
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Maramures, Cavnic, Roata mine |
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Stibnite blades coated with tiny barites and clear crystals to 1 cm with dark orange rims; 6x5.5 cm specimen. |
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Satu Mare, Gheturi mine |
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Very aesthetic clear, elongated, thin doubly terminated blades, 4 cm, perched completely on top of what appears to be chalcocite matrix with scattered pyrite/barite crystals. Also on small reddish siderite crystals. Labels often say Turt mine; Now Gheturi mine, says Ross Lillie. MinDat uses both. |