Watch a video of this specimen by following the Vimeo link below: https://vimeo.com/1168576781/744aaaac72 Silver is a precious metal that Man sought after and extracted since 5000 years. Silver has been used throughout History as a commodity money, until modern times and the generalisation of the Gold Standard and paper money; for the vast majority of historical times, being in control of silver mines to mint sovereign coins was an essential prerequisite for the existence of strong city-states, kingdoms or empires. Still today, silver is considered a precious, quite scarce and valuable commodity: in the world of mineral collection, the rare crystallizations of native silver and gold hold a special place regarding the intrinsic value and peculiar relationship with mankind this metal has. Here is a beautiful specimen of native silver displaying delicate dendritic 'herringbone' wires emerging from a contrasting matrix of massive calcite. Just splendid! Comes with an acrylic base for display. Ex coll. Bac. Jean-Pierre Bac was a highly active regional field prospector in the departments of Cantal, Aveyron, and Lot from the 1970s through the 2010s. He became a specialist of Curebourse and Enguialès, having developed a close relationship with the family who owned the latter mine. Several specimens from his Curebourse collection were illustrated and published in Le Règne Minéral (1999, issue 29). He also made several remarkable and unusual discoveries in a quarry near Miécaze. Another part of his collection consisted of carefully selected international specimens acquired from French mineral dealers during that period.