Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Kongsberg, Norway
SIZE : 14.5 x 15 cm; loop : 9 x 10.5 cm

This specimen is historical. This native silver was sent by King Christian VII of Denmark in 1770 to King Louis XV of France as a gift. At the end of his reign in 1774, king Louis XV entrusted Buffon with a series of minerals from Norway and Germany for the Royal Cabinet of Natural History (which would later become our Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle of Paris). That’s how this spectacular specimen entered the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

This silver is unique, because among all the known native silvers from the Kongsberg mine in Norway, this is the only specimen on which the wires form an closed loop. This loop measures 9 X 10.5 cm. The wires of silver rest on a calcite matrix.

This sample is currently exposed in the Room of the Treasure, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum.

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Native silver

HISTORY : Name inspired by the Greek word "αργυροσ" [arguros] that means bright. The chemical symbol Ag comes from the Latin "argentum". The English "silver" is from the old anglo-saxon "seolfor"

Species known since the Antiquity

Type-locality: undefined because species already known by the Ancients

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ag
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Cubic
COLOR : Silvery white, dark gray to black
DIAPHANIETY : Opaque
LUSTER : Metallic
STREAK : White silvery
MORPHOLOGY : Cubic crystals, octahedra, as arborescent filaments
HARDNESS : 2,5-3,0
DENSITY : 10,497

CHEMICAL CLASS : I - Elements
GROUP : Copper
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 1/A.01-20
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 1.AA.05

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Native silver

Native silver

MNHN N°0.153

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