Samuelsonite - Palermo No. 1 Mine, Groton, Grafton Co., New Hampshire, USA

Hi There,
I am reviewing the samuelsonite photos Knut's Samuelsonite because I do have a heck of a time distinguishing samuelsonite and palermoite. Both species have striations. I am under the impression that palermoite is more likely to be associated with rockbridgeite.

Most of my palermoite specimens are in the zone between triphylite and siderite. My only samuelsonite, a gft from Gene Bearss, is in a vug in massive quartz (next to a palermoite). This specimen and the surrounding matrix are so blindingly bright I can't imagine how I could possibly take a decent photo.

Most of my palermoites look like JBS's Palermoite
Note: striations, rockbridgite, abrupt termination and the goedkenites attached.

For me the determining factor for samuelsonite is the termination. Usually, palermoite terminates suddenly while samuelsonite has a more delicate prismatic termination. This image looks more to me like palermoite than samuelsonite, however I would be happy to stand corrected.

I also note that the mindat description for samuelsonite labels the color as pale yellow, however it can also be transparent to water clear.

Any insight is greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Joe

Joe

For what its worth, I agree with your observations on the terminations, I recently uncovered a samuelsonite, in some old material, that looks exactly like the first image on this page [mindatnh.org]

regards, Jeff

Joe,

The pictured specimen of Samuelsonite was obtained from Larry Conklin who had received it as a gift in 1981 from a reliable source. I have also 2 specimens with Palermoites in the collection obtained from Curt Segeler. These have free-growing crystals with typical abrupt terminations and seems to be less striated than the pictured Samuelsonite. The pictured crystal of Samuelsonite is not terminated but on the same specimen there is a much smaller crystal exhibiting a prismatic termination not unlike what you can see on some hemimorphites (and similar to the pictures refered to by Jeff). But as with your specimen it would be very hard to capture this small terminated xl in a photo. Thus based on the information given to me with the specimen and these observations I will stick to the ID of the specimen as being Samuelsonite.

Knut

Dear Knut,
Thank you for your response. I hope no offense was taken in my questioning the determining factors, as none was intended. The provenance on your specimens is impressive.

Hi Jeff, I too have been reviewing my palermoites to make sure what I saw was correct.

If anyone is interested, I have uploaded two new images.

Samuelsonite and Palermoite

Samuelsonite (?)

Again, if you feel my IDs are in error, I welcome the corrections.
Thank you,
Joe

Dear Joe,

by reviewing the photos and raising the questions you have contributed to me learning more about samuelsonite and palermoite. Thanks ! To me the pleasure of collecting minerals is all about enjoying the sharing of photos and information about minerals. Mindat is a great site for this activity.

cheers

Knut

I heartily agree Knut! Have a great day!
Joe