This specimen comes from the legendary Dal’negorsk mining district of far eastern Russia, a storied region perched along the coast directly across from Japan. Dal’negorsk is revered among collectors for producing some of the world’s finest sulfide minerals, including sphalerite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, and historic fluorites that helped define an era of mineral collecting.
This specimen exemplifies why the district is so highly regarded. Sculptural, isolated sphalerite crystals display pseudoctahedral forms, likely of tetragonal habit, many of them twinned, perched atop branching quartz crystals. Calcite once filled the open spaces between the crystals and was later dissolved away, revealing an open, dramatic composition that enhances both depth and visual tension. The contrast between sphalerite and quartz, in color and texture, gives the piece an unmistakably otherworldly presence, and despite decades of handling Dalnegorsk’s greatest treasures, Daniel has encountered only a handful of specimens of this type, with this example standing clearly as the finest.