Artinite (classic material)

Item Description

A very good display quality example of the famous and fine Artinites from San Benito County. Arguably the best examples of this hydrated magnesium hydroxy carbonate are found in this area, specifically from the Artinite Pit in the New Idria Mining District. This piece is covered with white acicular crystals of Artinite, forming semi-radial aggregates measuring up to about 2.2 cm across, on a thin plate of Serpentine matrix. The piece is in good shape, as the vast majority of the crystals are undamaged, which hard to find as many of them have "bruises" where the crystals unfortunately get pushed down and broken. An old label from Joel Baskin accompanies the specimen (Baskin & Sons, Inc.).
Ex George Loud Collection No. 16.1.10 CA.2; 9146 George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece 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 specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information