Barite (ex Richard Kosnar Collection)

Item Description

There are many localities for Barite all over Colorado, from sedimentary deposits to ore bodies. This is a nearly 50-year-old specimen from the classic Muddy Creek locality in southwestern Colorado. This showy display specimen features many sharp, well-formed, translucent, silvery-blue colored bladed crystals of Barite measuring up to 2.0 cm, free of matrix. The lower central edge of the front crystal has a separation mark where it was clearly growing against another Barite, but the piece still presents very well, and actually looks good from the back also. The piece almost has a "flower"-esque form to it, as the crystals are not just "flat" against one another, and there is a bit of three-dimensional depth to the piece. Very good condition all around, and you can't find many Muddy Creek Barites on the market these days. From the collection of Richard Kosnar (1946-2007), well-known mineral dealer and collector from Colorado, and the namesake for the phosphate species, Kosnarite. This piece was priced at $1,250 in our inventory. The label accompanying the specimen states that it's from the "It's Here Lode", but I can't find a reference to this locality in any database.