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Identity HelpNatural Zincite from Poland?

10th Apr 2020 00:57 UTCRobert Darabos

Purchased from an old German collection from known collector Manfred Schaeffer.

This specimen was marked as "Zincit from Polen."

I am assuming that is really Zincite from Poland.

Is there ANY naturally occuring Zincite from Poland? Or is it all synthetic?

also, any one have much info on the collector? can not find much information about him on line.

10th Apr 2020 00:58 UTCRobert Darabos

a close up of the material in question

10th Apr 2020 10:09 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

All zincites from Poland are found in slags: type 'zincite' and 'Poland' in the search function.

10th Apr 2020 10:33 UTCGabriel Plattes

I believe I read a long thread on these in mindat somewhere... It was very informative. Perhaps someone will recall which thread it was.

10th Apr 2020 10:42 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

https://www.mindat.org/mesg-59284.html

10th Apr 2020 16:52 UTCRobert Darabos

thanks for the information and link.

is there any way to tell if the Zincite is original from the 70's or re-created after?

11th Apr 2020 02:59 UTCGabriel Plattes

Do you have the lid to that box? Did the specimen come with that box? If it was not re-purposed, it could offer a clue. Manfred was a dealer for quite some time. Perhaps one of our German experts can put a rough age on the style of the box?

At our local yearly mineral sale, I do so much enjoy rifling through the 60s-90s boxes that one lady always has on sale. I'd imagine that a keen eye could judge a rough age of boxes they are familiar with.

11th Apr 2020 20:13 UTCRobert Darabos

yes, original box (and lid). the i.d. tag looks like a new one though

14th Apr 2020 16:50 UTCŁukasz Kruszewski Expert

Smelting slags - all synthetic. Other zincites (or, maybe, some of the ones like this one?) were caused by mine fires, so they are "semi-synthetic" (but more synthetic than true minerals).