Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Red Lead mine, Dundas, Tasmania, Australia
SIZE : 11 x 4.5 cm

The crocoite crystal is one of the biggest crystal known for the species. It has a great orange-red color and measures 11 x 4.5 cm.

This sample, acquired thanks to support from Total, comes from Red Lead mine, in Tasmania (Australia). The biggest crystals come from that place.

This sample is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

Photography: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire,
© MNHN.

SPECIE : Crocoite

HISTORY : Name inspired from the Greek word "κροκοσ" [krokos] meaning saffron, because of its color

Species first discovered in 1761 by Johann Lehmann (German mineralogist) in the Ural Mountains and described in 1832 by François-Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist

Type-locality: Beresovsk, Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk), Russia
ANCIENT NAME : Plomb rouge, plomb chromaté

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Pb CrO4
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Monoclinic
COLOR : Orangeish red, orange
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Adamantine
STREAK : Yellow-orange
MORPHOLOGY : Prismatic crystals, striated, forming aggregates
HARDNESS : 2,5-3,0
DENSITY : 6,1

CHEMICAL CLASS : VI - Sulfates, chromates,
GROUP : Crocoite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 6/F.01-30
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 7.FA.20

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Crocoite

Crocoite

MNHN N°192.21

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