Calcite on Sphalerite

Item Description

A gorgeous and showy toenail sized specimen from the Cumberland Mine in Tennessee (a few miles north of the Elmwood Mine) featuring a glistening, very sharp, gemmy, beautiful golden colored, doubly-terminated Calcite crystal measuring 2.0 cm, aesthetically perched atop a crystallized mound of dark reddish-brown ("Ruby Jack") Sphalerite. A few additional Calcites can be seen strewn down the back side of the specimen. The piece is highly presentable with the Calcite so elegantly sitting on the top of the specimen. It's not common to find such eye-catching thumbnails (or more accurately a toenail in the case of this specimen) from this locality, and this piece is certainly one of the better examples we've had to offer from this mine. The piece was acquired originally from Frank Harris, a loader driver from Gordonsville, Tennessee for $100 on April 7, 1995, so the piece is nearly 30 years old at this point.
From the collection of David E Ziga, a geologist who graduated Miami (of Ohio) University in 2017, with a mineralogy background. Specimen #67.