Cinnabar

There is a storied past to the mercury belt centered around Guizhou Province running north east as well as southwest. The most known are specimens from Tongren. Being that mining began around 5,000 years ago straddling two provinces the labeling confusion has been  intriguing. I tried researching this labeled locality and found only a few references. They indicate this is an older piece from the southwest area. The crystals are particularly bright and translucent. They are on a dolomite/quartz matrix. Really fine miniature from the R D Mushlitz collection.

Locality: Wanshangchang, Toon Sen Prefecture, Kweichow Province, China

Composition: mercury sulfide