Huebnerite Value, Price, and Jewelry Information

huebnerite - Peru
“Hubnerite With Quartz,” Pasto Bueno, Pallasca Province, Ancash Dept., Peru. © Rob Lavinsky, www.iRocks.com. Used with permission.

It should not be difficult to find numerous small, faceted huebnerite gems (also hübnerite or hubnerite) among larger collections. Certainly ample material exists to cut a number of such gems, although they are rarely offered for sale.

Huebnerite Value

The International Gem Society (IGS) has a list of businesses offering gemstone appraisal services.

Huebnerite Information

DataValue
NameHuebnerite
Crystallography Monoclinic; crystals prismatic; flattened; tabular, often striated in direction of elongation. Often in crystal groups, radiating or parallel aggregates. Commonly twinned.
Refractive Index 2.17-2.32
Colors Brownish black, yellowish to reddish brown, red. Sometimes color banded; sometimes tarnished iridescent.
Luster Submetallic to resinous.
Fracture Uneven
Hardness 4 - 4.5 (increases with iron content).
Specific Gravity 7.12-7.18 (increases with iron content).
Birefringence 0.13.
Cleavage Perfect in 1 direction
Stone SizesHuebnerite is transparent, and opacity increases with iron content. Material suitable for faceting occurs in Peru, and stones of several carats in weight may be cut but tend to be dark.
Luminescence None.
Transparency Transparent to opaque.
Absorption Spectrum Not diagnostic.
Phenomena Iridescence.
FormulaMnWO4 Series to Ferberite: FeWO­4.
Pleochroism Varies with locality and iron content: bright yellow/orange-red/orange-red; greenish-yellow/orange-red/bright red; olive green/brick-red/dark red.
Optics a = 2.17-2.20; β = 2.22; γ = 2.30-2.32. Biaxial (+).

Optics:  a = 2.17-2.20; β= 2.22; γ= 2.30-2.32. Biaxial (+).

Streak: yellowish, reddish brown, blackish to greenish gray.

Occurrence: High-temperature hydrothermal ore veins; quartz veins in or near granitic rocks; Many localities in western United States (Colorado: Idaho; Nevada; New Mexico; Arizona; South Dakota).

France; Czechoslovakia; Australia.

Pasto Bueno, Peru: transparent crystals.

Comments: It should not be difficult to find numerous small faceted huebnerites among larger gemstone collections. Certainly ample material exists to cut a number of such gems, although they are rarely offered for sale.

Name: After Adolph Hubner, a metallurgist from Freiburg, Saxony (Germany). Ferberite was named after Rudolph Ferber, of Gera, Germany.