SPAIN

Name: AN IMPRESSIVE CLUSTER OF PYRITE CRYSTALS
Brand: SPAIN
Price: 5000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 6,300

Estimate

GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000

Closed: 25 Oct 2022

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AN IMPRESSIVE CLUSTER OF PYRITE CRYSTALS

SPAIN

Price Realised GBP 6,300

Closed: 25 Oct 2022

Price Realised GBP 6,300

Closed: 25 Oct 2022

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

From the Ampliación a Victoria Mine in Navajun, La Rioja, the twinned growth of lustrous cubic pyrite mounted on bespoke stand.
6 x 4 x 3in. (16 x 9 x 7cm.)

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
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Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

James HyslopHead of Department, Science & Natural History

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

jhyslop@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7752 3205

Lot Essay

Returning from his second voyage to the North-West passage in 1577 the privateer Martin Forbisher (1535-1594) carried as ballast for this three ships several hundred tons of gold bearing ore. After much heated debate at the assaying, involving the mathematician and alchemist John Dee (1527-1609), the true nature of the mineral was revealed as pyrite — fool’s gold.
Such is the quality of the yellow lustre from pyrite that many have be drawn to it over the centuries. Here it presents itself as a large crystal revealing the underlying cubic arrangement of iron and sulfur atoms; the microscopic hermetically revealed at the macroscopic level of a near-prefect Platonic solid. The cube is one of the purest geometrical and sculptural forms. The perfect shape of pyrite appears man made and is yet sculpted only by nature.