Apatite with Magnetite (rare combo for the locale) (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

The famous, classic Apatite specimens from Cerro de Mercado in Mexico are some of the most iconic examples of Apatite from any world locality. Typically, you'll find loose crystals with that classic greenish-yellow color off matrix, but this piece is not only a desirable matrix specimen, it also features excellent well-formed crystals of Magnetite, rarely seen from the locality! This small cabinet specimen features a predominant 3.3 cm long, sharp, lustrous, gemmy, euhedral, prismatic crystal of Apatite with the well known greenish-yellow color with minor white/color Chalcedony on dark grey-black Magnetite matrix. As mentioned, you can see that there are some superb, textbook octahedral crystals of Magnetite, which measure up to 1.7 cm across on the piece as well. A smaller secondary Apatitescan be seen, but it is unfortunately contacted. These specimens are not nearly as common on the market as they were about 20 years ago, and you never see piece with good Magnetite crysatls like this. Overall, a great quality specimen of this renowned Mexican material. Valued at $1,200. From the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman. Dave is now retired, but among other things, he was the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".