This ANTHROPOGENIC (def: influenced by human process) material comes from Poland, where it is scaled from the faulty vent systems, in the smokestacks at the Zinc smelting facilities there. It is deposited by vapor/fumes crystallizing as they cool, during the processing of the raw Zinc ore.
These systems were updated long ago, and production of this increasingly rare material has stopped. It ceased being readily available on the market in about 2004. It is currently primarily sold by Old Stock crystal collectors, but I obtained the specimens available here for sale for an amazing deal!
The color is a result of trace Manganese within the crystal, and it has a Moh’s hardness of 4.
