Some 80 miles South East of my Tiger Eye mines, in the Karoo Desert of the Cape Province in South Africa, there used to be a small copper mine.

It ceased to operate in the mid 1980’s. I visited that mine a few months before they stopped production and I was impressed with some boulders brought to the surface together with the mainly small, sandy ore formation. Each boulder had a diameter of, say 20 to 30 inches and they were crushed into small pieces by a large jaw crusher.

I took a few samples to my stone cutting factory, Gemcraft, in Johannesburg and we sliced and polished them. We all liked what we were seeing. I phoned the mine but the general manager left already for a new position.

I sent my manager from the Tiger Eye mine and he stayed at the copper mine during the last 2-3 days before it closed down. He picked up just about every boulder that came to the surface. Some of them, however, were not solid enough and disintegrated when handled. We ended up with only a few good boulders and then the mine closed down and the shaft was sealed.

We produced 387 items from that lot. Spheres, pyramids and a handful of obelisks.

We had the material analyzed by the Johannesburg City’s Geologist. It was SILVER PYRITE. He confirmed that he has never seen such formation before.

All Pyrites occur as a “cubic” formation with 6, 8 or even more defined sides. They all show a natural, very high polished finish, with a strong gold base color. Copper Pyrite is found in relative sufficient quantities at or nearby copper mines in South America, Spain, Africa, Colorado and a few other places.

The “dense” cubic formation does not allow cutting or shaping. Every Pyrite crystal, when touched by a tool, will crack into smaller crystals of same cubic formation.

As far as I understand, this formation of “Bulky” SILVER Pyrite occurred only at that small mine in the Karoo. It also contains iron, quartz, hematite, galena and minute quantities of gold and silver.

The final polish brings forth a classy, antique “old silver” look and it gives a feeling of richness and quality. It makes a wonderful conversation piece and it is, of course, a very rare mineral specimen.

I will issue a certificate of origin with every piece sold and we have numbered each piece. I am sure that you will enjoy holding it and looking at it. And, of course, showing it around because not many friends have such rare mineral specimen in their collection.

Of course, you may consider buying one of each: a sphere and a pyramid and / or an obelisk, if any remain available. They will make a most elegant, wonderful desk set, embellishing any room. You will own a unique set. Like with any other natural stone, not two of them will look exactly the same. There are certain marked variations on each one of them.

PRODUCTION AND PACKING
Each sphere and pyramid and obelisk was shaped by hand. We did not have, at the time, any mechanical equipment that could produce such shapes automatically.

Especially with the pyramids and even more so with the obelisks, great care was taken to shape the stone and to polish the sites while creating razor sharp edges.

We lost 2 and even 3 pieces for each one we could finish.

Each item was very well packed for the journey from Africa to USA. We will inspect each one before packing it again to mail it to you. Please, take great care when unpacking so as not to damage any sides.