Azurite on Malachite (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

An attractive cabinet display specimen of Azurite on Malachite from the prolific Liufengshan Mine. The piece features deep midnight blue, lustrous Azurite crystals which are sitting on green, chatoyant, velvety, flowing and botryoidal Malachite. The color contrast is just beautiful and truly resembles classic material from Bisbee, Arizona. These specimens are certainly among the most celebrated contemporary Azurite specimens out there. No more of these specimens have come out for several years, and they are certainly worth picking up if you collect copper species or secondary ore minerals. From the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman who acquired the piece from his son-in-law Richard Kosnar, whose hand-written label accompanies the specimen. 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".