This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 8 in 2019. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
There is a class of minerals, named native elements, consisting of all those minerals formed by a single element; the most famous are certainly gold, silver, platinum, copper and diamond (consisting only of carbon).
Yet we challenge any of these famous “colleagues” to beat the beauty and rarity of sulfur samples unearthed in the past in Agrigento (Sicily). Sulfur is in fact a mineral that is part of the native elements, easy to find in many places on a planetary scale. Most of the time sulfur is found in dusty clusters, poorly or not at all crystallized, and is extracted and marketed almost exclusively for industrial purposes (insecticides, fungicides, explosives, etc).
Despite being so widespread, sulfur can more rarely be encountered in gem quality specimens; in particular this mineral “has chosen” a splendid Italian region, Sicily, as a place to show itself in its most attractive specimens. The samples like this illustrated in Figure 122, with crystals characterized by an intense yellow color, excellent transparency, perfect prismatic dress and considerable size, are absolutely among the most desired and sought after pieces in both mineralogical and since some years also gemological scene. The fact that the Sicilian sulfur mines are no longer exploited being therefore not possible to extract new specimens today results in increasing the value and prestige of minerals like this.
Sulfur has been cut as a gem only rarely by passionate cutters skill enough to accept the challenge. With a hardness of 1.5-2.5 and a strong thermal sensitivity, it is a stone that can crack showing several fractures due to heating if only hold a few seconds in a closed hand.
The large transparent material that can be used for these cutting experiments is usually from Sicilian origin.
As incredible as it may seem, we are witnessed an exceptional gem of around 15 carats, faceted with incredible mastery by Damiano Troletti, obtained from a clean “yellowish” crystal of Sicilian sulfur.
Spectacular gem quality sulfur crystals, in the past were also extracted in the location of Ca’ Bernardi, Bellisio, Marche.
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Curated by the qualified group of expert of the section Gems of Italy, published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #8, Winter 2019.
