Austinite (superb specimen) (ex Wouter Van Tichelen Collection)

Item Description

A fantastic cabinet display specimen of Austinite from the type locality, the famous Gold Hill Mine in Utah. This locality is well-known for producing some of the best micro examples of Austinite, but fine display specimens are incredibly hard to find. This piece is quite possibly the richest and finest quality example of this material (in a cabinet sized specimen) that we've had to offer in the auctions, featuring a nearly full coverage of sparkling, very pale yellow to white colored aggregates of Austinite measuring up to 3 mm sitting atop a thin layer of oxidized matrix. Virtually every "ball" on the piece is damage free, and the only roughness is understandably around the periphery where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. You would be hard-pressed to find another piece of this caliber on the market today, especially since the mine has been closed for many decades. A must-have piece for any fan of secondary ore minerals, specimens from Utah or simply superb quality display pieces of lesser-seen minerals. The piece comes from the collection of Wouter Van Tichelen, whose full sheet label states that it was once part of the collection of Gunnar Bjareby (for whom the species Bjarebyite was named), "an accomplished artist by profession, who accumulated one of the finest private mineral collections in New England at that time." A label from George and Susan Robinson also accompanies the piece with Bjareby's name on it. Hard to put a value on a piece like this, since there is very little to compare it to, but I would put it in the $4,000 range for superb quality and specimen size.