Calcite with Malachite and Chalcopyrite (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

A showy display specimen from an unspecified locality in the Virgilina District (possibly the Blue Wing Mine?) near the Virginia / North Carolina border featuring a predominant, scalenohedral white crystal of Calcite measuring 3.1 cm, associated with a few additional Calcite crystals sitting atop a layer of attractive green Malachite, which has formed due to alteration of underlying Chalcopyrite. The main Calcite crystal is not undamaged, it has some cleaved faces, but it's the only specimen we've ever had to offer of its kind from the area. A cool locality specimen for any fan of Calcites or copper minerals.
From the collection of Norman Kennedy ("Kenny") Gay (1953-2023), a geologist, geoscience educator and mineral collector from North Carolina. (#M24 M.1). Kenny worked for North Carolina Geological Survey starting 1995, and he was a member of the adjunct faculty at Wesleyan College, and a professor of geology since 2001. He assembled a large collection of worldwide minerals specimens, though he focused mainly on minerals of North Carolina. Kenny did substantial work documenting all of the significant mineral occurrences and mining/mineral collecting in North Carolina. He might be best associated with the Redmond Mine, where the rare extremely rare lead sulfate Kennygayite was discovered and named in his honor in 2022. Kenny was the first person to collect specimens at this locality, which lead Jason Smith to take an interest in this assemblage, and later name a mineral in Kenny's honor.