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Entry № 240

Hutchinsonite

TlPbAs₅S₉

Rare thallium sulfosalt of crimson-black needles.

Chakra

Root

Element

Fire · Earth

Zodiac

Scorpio

Hutchinsonite

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

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