Baryte on Fluorite

Item Description

This is a fantastic combo specimen labeled as coming from the Minerva No. 2 Mine (not the No. 1 Mine), but I'm not 100% certain if this locality designation is correct, as mindat.org does not list a Minerva No. 2 Mine in their database, and I can't seem to find any credible listing for that mine in any other mineral database. For now we're leaving the locale as it's written on the label, but if anyone has some additional info to help clear this up, please let us know. This hefty and eye-catching cabinet sized piece features a handful of good-sized, sharp, well-formed, blades of light grey-beige colored Baryte measuring up to 5.3 cm, which are aesthetically flaring off a robust crystallized group of "stepped" cubic Fluorite showing distinct rich purple and golden colored zones. Drusy crystals of what are likely Calcite coat select areas of the Fluorite for a nice touch. The piece is in very good shape, as the major Barytes seem to be almost completely undamaged. I love that the piece sits quite well on its own without the aid of a base or clay. Showy, big and really attractive for the material, and the lesser seen Minerva No. 2 Mine locality makes it all the more desirable.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 28.3.1.1 IL.10; 0130 George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece 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 specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information