Cinabrio
Cinabrio is a mineral with formula HgS, in the Sulfuros group. This specimen comes from El Entredicho, Almadén, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, España.
Description
Intense red cinnabar crystals with excellent terminations lining small cavities on ferruginous siliceous matrix. Outstanding adamantine lustre and classic Almadén aesthetics.
History of this specimen
Specimens like this have not been recovered since the late 1980s. They were preserved in historic Spanish collections whose owners recognized their value and carefully protected them from light to prevent darkening.
About Cinabrio
The primary ore of mercury and the source material for the pigment vermilion. Under supergene alteration or oxidation, cinnabar may undergo partial decomposition, producing native mercury as microscopic spherical droplets visible on the matrix. This association has exceptional educational value, as it displays both the sulphide and the elemental metal in the same specimen. Mercury takes its symbol Hg from the classical term *hydrargyrum*, while the English name *quicksilver* reflects the resemblance of the liquid metal to silver in rapid motion.
About the locality
The Almadén mine is the world's greatest historic mercury district. For more than two millennia it supplied mercury to Europe and, from the 16th century onwards, to the American silver industry through the amalgamation process. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Idrija.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0688
- Composition
- HgS
- Name
- Cinabrio
- Group
- Sulfuros
- Category
- Meritum Persé
- Matrix
- Ferruginosa
- Mine
- El Entredicho
- District / Municipality
- Almadén
- Province
- Ciudad Real
- Region
- Castilla-La Mancha
- Country
- España
- Size (cm)
- 6 x 5 x 4.5
- Weight
- 190.7 g
- Ex-collection
- Andrés Jiménez Shelly
- Etymology
- From the Arabic «zinjafr», itself derived from the Persian «zinjifrah», the historical origin of the name «cinnabar».
- Quality
- Top
- Value trend
- Al alza
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