Sphalerite is a zinc sulphide mineral rarely found in nature in crystallized form. The specimen on display – from the Giuseppe Sanco collection – has beautifully coloured and shiny twinned crystals in bright red-orange hues. It comes from the small Las Manforas mine in the Picos de Europa mountains (Spain). The site is known and appreciated by collectors around the globe for the transparency and beauty of its sphalerite minerals. Although sphalerite is mainly used in the zinc mining industry, Picos de Europa specimens are of gemmological interest due to their extraordinary colouring and their high refractive index, which is higher than that of diamonds, granting them an exceptional shine.
