Aragonite (classic material)

Item Description

This specimen is a classic example of these famous Sicilian Aragonites featuring many sharp, well-formed, prismatic, soft blue-green colored pseudo-hexagonal (they're actually cyclic twins) crystals of Aragonite measuring up to 3.0 cm long associated sitting atop drusy off-white colored Calcite (labeled originally as Strontianite). The piece is in very good condition, as the major crystals are in fine shape. The label states that the color is due to nickel content, and the piece shows a bright pink fluorescence under SW UV light.

From the collection of Jack Halpern No. 1853. Jack was born May 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, but has been a long-time resident of San Francisco. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the world encompassing over 3,200 specimens with a specific emphasis on color, quality, and style/aesthetics, which is evident in every piece. He admired specimens of all sizes from thumbnails to large cabinets and the vast majority of them rank from fine to world-class in their quality.
Above all else, Jack is considered to be the greatest gentleman in the modern era of mineral collecting. He is beloved by all those who have met him, and he truly is one of the most iconic figures in the mineral world. We recently acquired Jack's collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality pieces for their collections. We are honored to have the opportunity to offer Jack's treasures to everyone on a regular basis in the auctions.
We encourage you to read our blog post at https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection or his profile on the Mineralogical Record website https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/halpernjack/ for more information