Azurite (''rose'')

Item Description

A fantastic "floater" group of sharp, distinct, well-formed, rich navy blue colored Azurite crystals, forming a complete "rose" from the famous Morenci Mine in Arizona. This locality has produced some of the finest examples of crystallized Azurite from any mind in the state. No damage that I can see anywhere with the naked eye, and I love the fact that the individual crystals are not tightly intergrown, so they have some separation and distinction between them. If you collect toenails, Azurites or minerals of Arizona, this is a really nice example of these classic specimens.
This piece comes from the personal collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman, the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. Dave is now retired from mining, but he worked for decades in various mines underground in Colorado, as a miner, mechanic, engineer, shift boss and foreman. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the foreman and the primary person in charge of mining and specimen recovery at the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado in the 1970s alongside his son-in-law, Rich Kosnar. This project what was the FIRST ever operation for specimen recovery at this historic locality. A full-page photograph of Dave can be seen mining underground at the Sweet Home in on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".