Brucite with Calcite

Item Description

A hard to find Brucite specimen from the N'Chwaning II Mine in South Africa featuring a sculptural group comprising soft green colored semi-botryoidal aggregates, free of matrix. A few tiny "jewel"-like colorless Calcite crystals can be seen near one end of the piece for a nice touch. The piece is in good shape, but there is a contact on each where the piece was separated from the pocket. Nonetheless, you don't see many Brucites from this mine on the market, and I would say that the green specimens are the most desirable. This piece was mined circa mid to late 1990s. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#6806) (with an accompanying label from Al McGuinness). 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.