Azurite (significant historic specimen)

Item Description

Azurite might be the most well-known secondary copper mineral in the world, and the type locality for the species is the famed Chessy Copper Mines in France, where it was called "Chessylite" for a time (it was officially changed to Azurite in 1824). The specimens are iconic for their beautiful form and color, and typically are found in smaller examples (thumbnails to miniatures). THIS piece is an incredibly impressive, big, showy, important historic display specimen approaching 10 cm at it longest dimension. The piece is filled with dozens of sharp, well-formed, fairly thick, rich blue colored bladed crystals forming semi-"rose"-shaped groups, associated with customary minor Malachite, and no matrix. The largest individual crystal measures about 2.0 cm across. Not only is this a big / substantial display piece, but it has a significant history, as it is accompanied by an old hand-written label from C.F. Pech (ca. 1892-1899), a well-known Berlin, Germany mineral dealer in the late 19th century, so you know the piece is at LEAST 125 years old! For its size and age, the piece is in amazingly good condition, as I cannot see any significant damage, just a few small imperfections. The dramatic form and superb quality is truly striking, certainly one of the best Chessy Azurites we've ever had to offer and the historic provenance makes it all the more desirable.
The piece is accompanied by labels from Clifford J. Krueger and Walt Lidstrom.
I value this one in the $10,000-$12,000 range for the size, quality and the celebrated, important historic locality
From the collection of Jack Halpern No. 3122. Jack was born May 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, but has been a long-time resident of San Francisco. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the world encompassing over 3,200 specimens with a specific emphasis on color, quality, and style/aesthetics, which is evident in every piece. He admired specimens of all sizes from thumbnails to large cabinets and the vast majority of them rank from fine to world-class in their quality.
Above all else, Jack is considered to be the greatest gentleman in the modern era of mineral collecting. He is beloved by all those who have met him, and he truly is one of the most iconic figures in the mineral world. We recently acquired Jack's 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 pieces for their collections. We are honored to have the opportunity to offer Jack's treasures to everyone on a regular basis in the auctions.
We encourage you to read our blog post at https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection or his profile on the Mineralogical Record website https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/halpernjack/ for more information