Baryte on Calcite (Bob Reynolds Coll.)

Item Description

Two stunning gemmy and lustrous golden-amber barite crystals are dramatically set on the mounded matrix covered with two generations of yellow calcite from the famous Elk Creek area of South Dakota. The striking upright tapered blade is 3.3 cm long and the impressive sharp spearpoint is 4.3 cm long. These outstanding combination specimens are found within cracks and seams in gray septarian nodules (concretions) within the Cretaceous-age Pierre Shale. The upright crystal is pristine and the other crystal has a gently bruised end. A very aesthetic and sculptural small cabinet combination example from the locale. They are intermittently on the market in small lots and in prices from the reasonable (from all older finds) to the perhaps optimistic (material from newer finds). Ex Bob Reynolds Collection, a well-known fossil and mineral expert and Curator of the San Bernardino County Museum. He passed away in 2020. See the 1987 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 18, No. 2. Elk Creek barites are certainly among the very finest USA barites and this is an artistic example. Valued highly - this is a superb, aesthetic specimen!