Antigorite (var: Picrolite) (RARE locality) (ex Bill and Anne Cook Collection)

Item Description

A beautiful classic specimen of Antigorite (var: Picrolite) from the Delight Quarry in Maryland. These pieces are rare on the market, and if you collect amphibole species, this is a must-have piece to add to your collection, as this locality is long abandoned. The piece has a somewhat silky exterior luster, with a gentle blue-green hue, and while it is almost fibrous in nature, it's still rather firm. I love the curved or "bent" nature of the crystals showing how they were manipulated by the weight of the surrounding rock. Minerals from Maryland are incredibly hard to find on the market, especially if you don't live on the East Coast of the US, and the importance of a piece like this is only amplified by the fact that it's from such a rare locality. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio. This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.