Bismuth

Item Description

Bismuth is rarely seen in crystallized/crystalline examples from most localities. The most well-known pieces are those from Germany or Australia, but small discoveries in Dayu Co., Jiangxi, China have yielded some very nice specimens. This piece is a good representative miniature sized piece featuring a fairly thick portion of Bismuth, showing what appear to be defined crystal faces, though they could be well-disguised rhombohedral cleavages, with a bit of associated Quartz. Native Bismuth is generally found in more of a "blob", and I think we've all seen the rainbow-colored synthetic examples in rocks shops, but finding good crystallized pieces of natural Bismuth are far more unusual and rare.
From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#13247). 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. The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.