Breithauptite Value, Price, and Jewelry Information

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By Didier Descouens (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Breithauptite

Breithauptite is a curiosity cut for collectors, although it could be worn with care in jewelry. The color is extremely lovely, a delicate reddish or violet with metallic luster that is both unique and attractive. Sometimes the reddish sulfide is veined with streaks of native silver or colorless gangue minerals, providing interesting patterning to the color. The material is not very rare but is seldom encountered in cut form.

Breithauptite Information

Data	Value
Name	Breithauptite
Stone Sizes	Massive material could cut gems to hundreds of carats but only as cabochons.
Formula	NiSb
Colors	Light copper-red, violetish
Fracture	Subconchoidal to uneven
Hardness	5.5
Cleavage	None
Crystallography	Hexagonal. Crystals are rare, usually massive, compact.
Birefringence	None
Luminescence	None.
Pleochroism	Strong in reflected light.
Luminescence Present	No
Luster	Metallic.
Specific Gravity	7.59-8.23
Transparency	Opaque.

STREAK: Reddish Brown

OCCURRENCE: In massive Ni sulfide ore bodies.

Cobalt district, Ontario, Canada; Sarrabus, Sardinia; Adreasburg, Harz, Germany.

COMMENTS: Breithauptite is a curiosity cut for collectors, although it could be worn with care in jewelry. The color is extremely lovely, a delicate reddish or violet with metallic luster that is both unique and attractive. Sometimes the reddish sulfide is veined with streaks of native silver or colorless gangue minerals, providing interesting patterning to the color. The material is not very rare but is seldom encountered in cut form.

NAME: After G.W.A. Breithaupt, a German mineralogist.