Calcite (stalactite)

Item Description

A beautifully sculptural and eye-catching stalactitic specimen of Calcite from the famed Holbrook Mine (a shaft of the Copper Queen Mine) in Bisbee. This piece has a elegant almost serpent-like curvature, with a few smaller branching Calcite "arms" flaring off in a few directions. The piece has a light blue-green coloring due to minor amount of copper inclusions (I saw one post that states that it's Aurichalcite, but I cannot say for certain if this is verified). Now the piece is not without damage, as it's contacted in a handful of places, but it's still very attractive and distinctive, and would make a great addition to any worldwide Calcite suite or a collection of Bisbee material. This piece comes from the personal collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman, the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. Dave is now retired from mining, but he worked for decades in various mines underground in Colorado, as a miner, mechanic, engineer, shift boss and foreman. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the foreman and the primary person in charge of mining and specimen recovery at the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado in the 1970s alongside his son-in-law, Rich Kosnar. This project what was the FIRST ever operation for specimen recovery at this historic locality. A full-page photograph of Dave can be seen mining underground at the Sweet Home in on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".