This a strange story. Some years ago on a small mineral fare was a lady selling mostly jewelry. On the edge of her table was
a small box with some systematic minerals. All where boxed and labeled. I bought the lot and all the minerals where
labeled correctly, except for one. Labeled as "Krutaite, Nevyansk, Sverdlovsk, USSR". I know a little about the Urals
but could not remember a selenide deposit near the Urals. The mineralogists from the Museum in Ekatarinburg confirmed
that Krutaite was never found near the Urals. I chipped off a single crystal and sent it to Ted Hadley for an EDX analyses.
The result: mostly native chromium!! Native chromium does appear in the ultrabasic deposits of the Ural but only as grains.
Is this the first crystalline chromium, or is it a product of the local smelter? Out of focus to the right is a spinel crystal.
[photo/collection: Maurice de Graaf]