Entry № 240
Hutchinsonite
TlPbAs₅S₉
Rare thallium sulfosalt of crimson-black needles.
Chakra
Root
Element
Fire · Earth
Zodiac
Scorpio

I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Hutchinsonite is worked with as a mineral of stark boundary — a specimen stone rather than a body-worn one, held to contemplate the beauty and danger that can coexist in the same form.
- Chakra
- Root
- Element
- Fire · Earth
- Zodiac
- Scorpio
- Keynote
- Rare thallium sulfosalt of crimson-black needles.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Hutchinsonite is a rare thallium-lead-arsenic sulfosalt first described from the Lengenbach quarry in the Binn valley, Switzerland. It forms acicular to prismatic crystals in low-temperature hydrothermal veins associated with dolomite and other sulfosalts. Because thallium, arsenic, and lead are all highly toxic and the mineral is soft and easily abraded, hutchinsonite is handled only as a locked collector's specimen — never tumbled, worn, or used in elixirs.
- Formula
- (Tl,Pb)₂As₅S₉
- System
- Orthorhombic
- Hardness
- 1.5 – 2 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- Switzerland (Binn valley — type locality), Peru, Macedonia, USA
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- (Tl,Pb)₂As₅S₉
- Crystal System
- Orthorhombic
- Mohs Hardness
- 1.5 – 2 (Mohs)
- Density
- 4.6 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- Opaque; metallic-adamantine lustre
- Provenance
- Switzerland (Binn valley — type locality), Peru, Macedonia, USA
- Color Origin
- Cherry-red to nearly black acicular crystals
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Hyacinth Jasper
Sun-warmed jasper the colour of hyacinth stone.




