Calcite (2 generations) (rare Colorado locale)

Item Description

Here we have an attractive specimen of these seldom seen Calcites from near the town of La Junta in eastern Colorado. These pieces come out of concretions or nodules of Cretaceous-aged Pierre Shale, which are cracked open to expose the beautiful crystals inside. This piece is a very attractive small cabinet featuring a base layer of soft golden-brown colored Calcite rhombs which are overgrown by sharp, gemmy, white, compressed trigonal crystals of Calcite measuring up to 1.2 cm across. The latter generation of Calcite have formed almost "poker chip"-esque crystals, and one group in particular has a distinctive "nail head" appearance (see first photo). There is a little bit of roughness to some of the Calcites around the edges, but the piece is in good shape and really looks nice when displayed. If you collect worldwide Calcites, Colorado minerals, or simply obscure locality material, do not pass this one up as it is a really good example of these incredibly elusive specimens. This piece was formerly in the collection of Sherman Marsh, and was collected by Dan Kile.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 14.1.1.1 CO.12; 9319. 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