Chalcopyrite (twin) on Quartz

Item Description

The Bandora Mine is a well-known locality in San Juan County, Colorado, several miles west of Silverton, up Mineral Creek. This old silver mine is best known for producing some of the finest Chalcopyrite crystals from any locality in the state. The specimens specifically were found along the Little Todd Vein, and they are true classics from Colorado. This mine operated intermittently from 1884 to about 1950, but specimens were still collected in the second half of the 20th century. This piece was actually collected by well-known collector Jim Minette in July of 1984 while on a trip with friends Bill Molley and Clift Maddox. A beautiful group of sharp, lustrous, brassy, twinned Chalcopyrite crystals (the largest of which measures about 1.5 cm) are sitting beautifully at the lower portion of an eye-catching "spray" of white prismatic Quartz crystals, with a bit of associated Sphalerite and Galena. I would like to mention that Jim's label states that the piece formed on a "cast" after Baryte (almost certainly after Anhydrite), but I don't really see it as I look closely. With that said, the main Chalcopyrite crystal is in great shape, though there is a contacted portion on the bottom of the group where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. Still, it is certainly one of the showiest / most aesthetic examples we've ever seen from this mine, and they are notably absent from the market, as nothing has come out in many years.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 2631 CO.6; 5774 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