Getchellite, Realgar, Orpiment

This colourful specimen features rich, deep red masses of getchellite set within a bright yellow orpiment matrix, with accents of vivid red realgar. The getchellite occurs as eye-visible dark red clusters and granular masses, and under magnification shows crude crystal faces and cleavages intergrown with the surrounding arsenic sulfides. The strong colour contrast between the red getchellite, orange-red realgar, and yellow orpiment makes this an especially striking and immediately recognizable example of this rare mineral association.

The specimen originates from the Getchell Mine, Potosi Mining District, Humboldt County, Nevada, the type locality for getchellite. Getchellite is a rare arsenic–antimony sulfide (AsSbS₃) that was first described from this deposit and named after the mine. The Getchell Mine, discovered in 1933 on the east flank of the Osgood Mountains, is best known as a significant underground gold producer, but it also yielded a small number of highly distinctive arsenic mineral specimens during periods of active mining, particularly from the 1960s through the 1980s.

This piece comes from the collection of Peter Tarassoff and was acquired in 1968. Well-crystallized or richly coloured getchellite specimens are rarely encountered today, making this an excellent representative of a rare species from its classic and historically important locality.