Description
What looks like stone is, on closer inspection, frozen time. Stibnite’s needle-like crystals, silver-black and mirror-bright, cluster in formations that look like abstract metallic sculptures — or, in the imagination of Japanese sword-makers who once prized it, the quintessence of a blade. Hunan’s Xikuangshan district is the world’s largest antimony producer and its specimens are legendary.
This specimen originates from Xikuangshan, Hunan, China, one of the world’s most significant localities for this type of material. Collectors and scientists have drawn from this region for generations, and for good reason: the combination of geological conditions here produces specimens of exceptional quality and clarity.
Every specimen is unique. Photographs approximate the visual experience, but the real thing — its weight, its luster under a raking light, the way it catches the corner of your eye — can only be experienced directly.
