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Rhenium in Wolframite.
This is basically a fine powder which is said to have been determined by neutron activation analysis to be microscopic inclusions of rhenium in wolframite grains. No reason to doubt the claim. But it is a good bit of money to pay for a powder that, honestly, looks a lot like just about any other powder.
It is described as coming from eastern Transbaikal, Russia (interestingly the tag it came with is marked "E. Transbaikal, U.S.S.R.", indicating that the sample must have been collected some time ago).
Source: Topaz Mineral Explorations
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 20 July, 2002
Price: $36
Size: 0.001"
Purity: >50%
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  Old photographic flash bulb.
Back in the dark ages, cameras used one-time-only flash bulbs that ignited a fine wire inside a glass bulb. We're not concerned here with the fine wire, but rather with the "igniter": these top-quality GE #5 bulbs were advertised as coming with "the guaranteed RHENIUM igniter". I don't know for sure what metal the wire in this one is made of, but I have a different type under zirconium which is labeled as using a wire of that metal (but that one doesn't say what it's ignitor is made of).
Reports Tryggvi:
The woolly stuff in GE flashbulbs is zirconium. (I.e. , the stuff that burns and makes the light. The bulbs are also filled with a few atmospheres of oxygen). The flashbulbs in the cubes that were used on some Kodak Instamatics were not triggered electrically (with rhenium wire), but with a percussive pyrotechnic mix inside a little metallic tube that stuck out of the bulb.
Source: eBay seller erinsplace2001@yahoo.com
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 1 August, 2002
Price: $1
Size: 1.5"
Purity: >50%
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1cm wire.
A very small sample indeed, but since it's from David Franco, it is of course of the highest purity.
Source: David Franco
Contributor: Ed Pegg Jr
Acquired: 16 August, 2002
Price: $6
Size: 0.4"
Purity: 99.98%
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Sample from the Everest Element Set.
Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (excepted gasses) weight about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid.
To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order.
Source: Rob Accurso
Contributor: Rob Accurso
Acquired: 7 February, 2003
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: >99%
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