It is similar to, and often associated with, wulfenite which is the same chemical formula except that the tungsten is replaced by molybdenum.

[4] Lead tungstate crystals have the optical transparency of glass combined with much higher density (8.28 g/cm3 vs ~2.2 g/cm3 for fused silica).

[6] Lead tungstate crystals are used in the Compact Muon Solenoid's electromagnetic calorimeter.

In 1845, Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger coined the name stolzite for an occurrence in the Ore Mountains, Bohemia (today the Czech Republic), naming it after Joseph Alexi Stolz of Teplice in Bohemia.

[4][5] It occurs in oxidized hydrothermal tungsten-lead ore deposits typically in association with raspite, cerussite, anglesite, pyromorphite and mimetite.