Calcite (rare locality)

Item Description

A hard to find Calcite specimen from Metaline Falls, Washington possibly the Pend Oreille Mine, which was an old lead-zinc deposit. This piece features a predominant, flattened rhombic crystal of white/colorless Calcite with a slick vitreous luster, sitting on thin bit of matrix with a few additional little crystals of Calcite. On the back of the piece, you can see some stark white fibrous Palygorskite, a good identifier that this piece is indeed from Metaline Falls. From the collection of Richard ("Dick") Philip Hauck formerly of Bloomfield, New Jersey and now a resident of Franklin, New Jersey. Please note that this piece comes with a label from the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut that erroneously had it coming from the Herja Mine in Romania, but the correct locality was attributed. Dick is an avid collector of minerals, books, and mining memorabilia, along with being an accomplished author in the mineral world. Arguably, his greatest claim to fame is being the co-founder of the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. Dick purchased the land on which the Sterling Hill Mine resides in 1988, and the museum has been running strong since.