Aragonite (Zinc-bearing) (formerly ''Nicholsonite'')

Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region, Namibia
Ex. John Dagenais
Small Cabinet, 7.2 x 6.2 x 2.9 cm
Start Time: 01/23/2025 7:45:00 pm (CST)
End Time: 01/30/2025 6:45:00 pm (CST)
Auction Closed
Winning Bid: $107

Item Description

A seldom-seen specimen of zinc-bearing Aragonite from Tsumeb. This material was for a time classified as a valid species called Nicholsonite, which was first discovered in Leadville, Colorado and was named after Samuel Danford Nicholson, a miner, former mayor of Leadville, Colorado, and US senator. Subsequent testing showed it was a variety of Aragonite. The style of the crystals from Tsumeb is distinctive, with a gentle yellow hue. This piece is a showy example of this uncommon material featuring a group of translucent, lustrous, prismatic crystals, the largest individual crystal measuring up to 2.7 cm long, sitting on sparkling Smithsonite on matrix. No major damage I can find on the front/display side, and if you flip the piece over, you can see there is a large incomplete "spray" of light greenish-yellow colored zinc-bearing Nicholsonite on the back.
This piece comes from the collection of John Dagenais (#JD-876), a collector from the Pacific Northwest. John started collecting in 1969 and progressed to micromounting, and later built suites of specimens from the Chuquicamata Mine in Chile, the Tsumeb Mine in Namibia, the Majuba Hill Mine in Nevada, the Black Pine Mine in Montana and the Tintic District in Utah, among other places. You can visit John's mindat profile at https://www.mindat.org/user-647.html.

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Bidding History

Bid Amount Bid Time
$107 01/29/2025 4:46:39 am (CST)
$100 01/29/2025 4:46:39 am (CST)
$10 01/23/2025 9:01:34 pm (CST)