Baryte ''cast'' after Calcite

Item Description

Santa Eulalia is one of the great specimen producing localities in all of Mexico. The various mines in the area have produced a good number of fine quality crystallized display specimens for decades. This piece is a showy and three-dimensional display specimen featuring soft golden-yellow to golden-brown colored Baryte which has replaced scalenohedral ("dogtooth") habit Calcite crystals, creating hollow "casts "as seen from a few of the broken crystals. The label accompanying the piece notes that this could be Ankerite replacing Calcite, but an additional note says, "NO. HEAVY.", indicating that the weight of the specimen is too much for it to be Ankerite. For what it's worth, there's an additional label with the piece stating this is Limonite after Calcite, but I'm going to leave it at Baryte unless someone has confirmed analysis of this material and can provide more accurate information, which we would welcome, by the way. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#9490). This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.