Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Image Credit: Malcolm Southwood
Specimen Title
Phosgenite
Associated Minerals
cerussite; quartz
Principal Mineral
Size
Cabinet; 110mm
Location in the Mine
Undetermined
Provenance
Tietz, H.; Nägele, H.; Schöler, A.
Collection
Southwood, M.; MS2013.068
Entry Number
Specimen; TSNB808
Associated Minerals
cerussite; quartz
Description
Crystals of translucent, amber-brown to chocolate-brown phosgenite (to 60 mm) associated with a little quartz-rich, vuggy, sheared (?) matrix. The phosgenite crystals exhibit a remarkable amber glow when strongly back-lit. They are heavily etched, with a chalky-white mixture of cerussite and phosgenite (both XRD confirmed; Paul Carr, University of Wollongong, April 2021).
The specimen was purchased from Armin Schöler in 2013. It formerly belonged to Herbert Nägele, of Windhoek and it bears his collection number ("AV 40") on the back. According to Nägele's catalogue (now owned by his son-in-law Ernst Schnaitmann), he purchased the specimen from Tsumeb-based dealer/collector Harold Tietz in 1992 and showed it to both Professor Paul Keller and Sid Pieters to confirm its identity and Tsumeb provenance (Ernst Schnaitmann, pers. comm. January 2021). Unfortunately, there is no record of location in the mine.
