Calcite (phantom crystal)

Sweetwater Mine, Ellington, Reynolds County, Missouri, USA
Ex. Armon McPherson
Cabinet, 11.3 x 5.3 x 4.4 cm
Start Time: 09/21/2023 7:00:00 pm (CDT)
End Time: 09/30/2023 6:45:00 pm (CDT)
Auction Closed
Winning Bid: $220

Item Description

A classic specimen of the famous golden scalenohedral Calcite crystals from the Sweetwater Mine in Missouri featuring sharp faces and great form, but the highlight of the piece is the distinct internal phantom that can be seen even without backlighting. These pieces are not nearly as common on the market as they once were, and are easily some of the most well known U.S. Calcite specimens extant.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.

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Bidding History

Bid Amount Bid Time
$220 09/30/2023 6:28:36 pm (CDT)
$210 09/30/2023 6:28:36 pm (CDT)
$201 09/30/2023 6:25:25 pm (CDT)
$191 09/30/2023 6:25:25 pm (CDT)
$181 09/30/2023 6:25:16 pm (CDT)
$171 09/30/2023 6:25:16 pm (CDT)
$130 09/30/2023 6:22:22 pm (CDT)
$120 09/30/2023 6:21:36 pm (CDT)
$110 09/30/2023 6:07:27 pm (CDT)
$100 09/30/2023 6:07:27 pm (CDT)
$90 09/29/2023 3:24:31 pm (CDT)
$80 09/29/2023 3:24:31 pm (CDT)
$60 09/28/2023 9:49:00 pm (CDT)
$50 * 09/28/2023 9:48:47 pm (CDT)
$50 * 09/28/2023 9:48:47 pm (CDT)
$25 09/28/2023 7:07:08 pm (CDT)
$20 09/28/2023 6:05:49 am (CDT)
$15 * 09/28/2023 3:19:14 am (CDT)
$15 * 09/28/2023 3:19:14 am (CDT)
$10 09/24/2023 12:12:01 am (CDT)
* Proxy Bid Battle: In the event of two customers inputting matching proxy bids, the leading bid goes to the earliest of the two proxy bids. Tie winners are shown in bold.