Native Metal Collection

Chrysina limbata, silver chafer beetle
Silver chafer beetle specimen. The beetles have a base pigment covered by several colourless microscopically thin layers called laminae

Slice of Canyon Diablo meteorite
Iron meteorites, when sliced open and etched with acid, typically show a distinctive criss-cross pattern called a Widmanstatten pattern. This slice is 15cm across

Gold with black sands in a gold pan
Gold (Au) is an elemental metal. It occurs mainly as nuggets in rocks or as seen here, as grains in alluvial deposits

Kaolinite
Scanning electron microscope image of kaolinite (x 4.00K). Its a common phyllosilicate mineral, its structure is composed of silicate sheets bonded to aluminum oxide/hydroxide layers

Coleoptera sp. metallic beetles
A pair of gold and silver metallic beetles side by side

Gold nugget found in a dry river bed outside Potchefstroom, Wits. 120 km southwest of Johannesburg, October 1882. Approximately 68x48mm and 156g in weight

Franklinite, zinc ore
A granular rock composed of white calcite, dull green willemite, red zincite and black franklinite (Zinc Iron Manganese Oxide). See T00387 for a fluorescent view

Benitoite was discovered in 1906 near the San Benito river in California which remains the only known locality for this (barium titanium silicate) mineral

Polished slab of labradorite
Labradorite (calcium sodium aluminum silicate) can seem dull and grey until the light hits correctly, then an array of colours can be observed glowing on the surface

Beryl
A cut heliodor beryl stone of 135.93 carats. Beryl comprises of beryllium aluminum silicate

Perovskite
Large black, pseudocubic crystals of perovskite (calcium titanium oxide). It is a source of titanium and some rare earth metals

Plate 1 from Specimens of British Minerals? vol. 1 by P. Ras
Plate 1 entitled Woodlike-tin ores from Specimens of British minerals, selected from the cabinet of P. Rashleigh, of Menabilly, in the County of Cornwall (1797) by Philip Rashleigh

Iron meteorite
This meteorite is the product of atmospheric melting, as are stony achondrites. Specimen held at the Natural History Museum, London

Linarite is a bright azure blue colour with crystal growth to nearly 25mm. It comprises of (lead copper sulphate hydroxide). Specimen from the Natural History Museum, London

Quercus in amber
A male oak tree flower in Baltic amber with a length of 3.7 mm and dating from the Upper Eocene about 35 million years old. Image from Amber The Natural Time Capsule page 29 figure 86

Corundum variety ruby; crystal and gems
Crystal and gem specimens of ruby, the red variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide). Corundum has two varieties, the other being sapphire

Lead (Pb) is a soft but heavy, metallic element. It appears blueish white when freshly cut but quickly tarnishes to dull grey. Specimen from the Natural History Museum, London

Nephrite jade
A specimen of nephrite jade from New Zealand. Nephrite is actually not a mineral outright, but is a variety of the mineral actinolite (calcium magnesium iron silicate hydroxide)

Sapphire Buddha pin less then two centimetres tall. Sapphie is so hard it would have needed something as hard or harder to shape it, most probably another Sapphire

Nickel-Iron meteorite
This cross-section through a nickel-iron meteorite shows the metallic lattice structure

Limonite, also known as ironstone, is comprised of (hydrated iron oxide) and is characterized by its rusty colour and banded appearance

Cinnabar
Twinned dark red cinnabar crystals with small quartz crystals. Cinnabar comprises of (mercury sulphide). Specimen from the Natural History Museum, London

Niccolite mineral with metallic lustre, comprises of nickel arsenide. It is also known as coppernickel and nickeline. This specimen is from the Natural History Museum, London

Gold
A specimen of the metal element, gold, from Hopes Nose near Torquay, Devon. A beautifully delicate dendritic growh in cream-coloured calcite, with brown weathered dolomite

Sperrylite is a platinum di-arsenide (PtAs2) which occurs rarely in a few localities across the world. This specimen originates from South Africa, and is of exceptional quality

Peridot
Crystal of peridot from Zebirget (St Johns Island), Red Sea. Peridot is the gemstone variety of olivine (magnesium iron silicate)

Atomic structure of gold
Model showing the face-centred cubic structure of atoms in a gold crystal. Gold is an elemental metal. It occurs mainly as nuggets in rocks and alluvial deposits

Murchison Snuff Box
The base of the gold snuff box presented to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison by Tsar Alexander II

Chrysoberyl cut stone
This is Alexandrite, a cushion-shaped Chrysoberyl (beryllium aluminum oxide) gemstone. Alexandrite is named after the former czar of Russia, Alexander II

Platinum Nugget
A 10-centimetre-long platinum nugget from the Nijai-Tagilsk mine in the Ural Mountains in Russia

Serpentine cup
A mottled serpentine ornamental cup or tazza on a black marble base. The mineral serpentine is composed of (magnesium iron silicate hydroxide)

Butterscotch wulfenite
A large specimen of the mineral wulfenite from the Glove Mine, Arizona, USA

Tourmaline cut stones see 666
A group of tourmaline cut stones. Tourmaline is the name given to a group of eleven minerals which all have a general chemical formula

Copper mass
This copper block was discovered by Samuel Hearne in the Arctic Circle in 1771. He carried it for a year before presenting it to the Hudsons Bay Company

Silver wire
Found in the Kongsberg mines in Norway, this specimen still has its long wires attached to the white calcite in which they grew

Diamond spikes

Ring with a weevil set in
About 200 years old, this weevil (Tetrasothynus regalis) has been set in a gold ring

Natural ruby in marble
From the mines of Mogok in Burma (Myanmar). Ruby is the red variety of the mineral corundum with small impurities of chromium that turn it red

Cursed amethyst
When the Mineralogy Department received this amethyst in 1943 they found a note inside the box: this stone is trebly accursed and is stained with the blood

Antigorite and bowenite
Group of two specimens of antigorite (above) and two specimens of antigorite var. bowenite below. Both these specimens comprise of (magnesium iron silicate hydroxide)

Copal
Stalactite of New Zealand copal locally known as kauri gum. Copal is the mid-stage between resin and amber. Figure 8 from Amber The Natural Time Capsule

Chalcopyrite or copper pyrite comprises of (copper iron sulphide). It is a common mineral and is found in almost all sulphide deposits. Specimen from Wheal Towan, Cornwall

The Esquel pallasite

The Latrobe gold nugget
A 717gm mass of crystallised cubes of gold about 11cms in length. Specimen was found at Mt. Ivor, Victoria, Australia in the presence of the then govenor of the colony, C. J. Latrobe

Plate 10, fig 2 from Mineralienbuch
An illustration of an andalusite mineral deposit showing columnar crystals. Plate 10, fig 2 from Mineralienbuch by F. A. Schmidt, Stuttgart 1855

Magnetite (iron oxide) specimen from Piedmont, Italy. From the collections of the Natural History Museum, London

Turquoise variety Henwoodite
A specimen of the turquoise variety called Henwoodite, named after William Jory Henwood (1805-1875) from West Phoenix Mine, Linkinhorne, Cornwall

Precambrian Landscape
Artists impression of a Precambrian (4, 500 to 543 million years ago) landscape, when oxygen built up in the atmosphere (about 1)

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