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 Lump with interesting surface. 99.95%.
On the NPR program I was a guest on (archive) the guest before me was John Emsley, author of "The 13th Element" which is all about Phosphorous, and a recent book that is a survey of all the elements. On the radio he said that the distinguishing characteristic of Thulium is that it is the most useless element. He could find no applications whatsoever to include in its section of his new book. That's pretty neat, I think.
But despite the fact that it is utterly useless, someone mines it, purifies it, and sells it, so we have some.
Source: Stanford Materials Corporation
Contributor: Ed Pegg Jr
Acquired: 26 July, 2002
Price: $80
Size: 0.75"
Purity: 99.95%
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Lump.
This sample arrived with a full set of lanthanides at a time when I was missing europium, terbium, holmium, ytterbium, and of course lutetium.
This very kind donation from Max Whitby of The Red Green & Blue Company in England completed my element collection, to the extent that it gave me a plausible sample of every element one can plausibly have a sample of. (The Red Green & Blue Company is selling a periodic table collection containing similar samples of the same stuff, and if you want a ready-made collection of elements, that's the first place I would look.)
To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description or the company's website which includes many photographs and pricing details. I have two photographs of each sample from the set: One taken by me and one from the company. You can see photographs of all the samples displayed in a periodic table format: my pictures or their pictures. Or you can see both side-by-side with bigger pictures in numerical order.
The picture on the left was taken by me. Here is the company's version (there is some variation between sets, so the pictures sometimes show different variations of the samples):
Source: Max Whitby of The Red Green & Blue Company
Contributor: Max Whitby of The Red Green & Blue Company
Acquired: 20 December, 2002
Price: Donated
Size: 0.5"
Purity: 99.94%
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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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