Celestine (fine locality specimen)

Item Description

A magnificent, three-dimensional display specimen of fine quality Celestine crystals on matrix from the Holloway Quarry in Michigan. It's hard enough to find crystals ON matrix from this locality, let alone such an eye-catching group of fine quality crystals like this. This hefty cabinet sized piece hosts many excellent, sharp, lustrous, soft bluish-silvery colored, thick bladed crystals measuring up to 6.7 cm are aesthetically perched on limestone matrix. The crystals range from slightly translucent to rather gemmy in sections. Very little damage, only some tiny rough spots, which is more than forgivable for the material, especially a piece in this size with such fantastic displayability. Simply put, it's one of the finest examples of this fairly elusive material that we've ever had to offer. The piece was collected in 1992 by Dan Edmundson, so it predates the newer crystals that came out circa 2000 with the more opaque, darker blue appearance. Valued $4,000-$5,000.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 28.3.1.2 MI.2; 1722 George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information