Cobaltian Calcite with Kolwezite

Item Description

This gorgeous cabinet sized display piece features hot pink crystals of calcite to 2.7 cm, on a three dimensional matrix with almost no damage. It displays magnificently and for decades was a highlight in the displays of the Halpern collection. In the early 1990s, the mineral world was shocked by a few finds of intense neon pink calcite coming out of the Mupine and Mashamba West Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many specimens got snapped up quickly within months, at the shows, and they only come out now as the old collections recycle. They are certainly classics of all time, unequalled from any finds anywhere else for the combination of shape and color. I am told that, at the time, dealers who had lots of these priced them quite reasonably (to their mind) because they expected more to come out - and more never came. Ken Roberts, at the time a dealer near San Francisco, had one of the best lots of choice crystals that went to the USA market while Christian Gobin had another fine lot that went to Europe. When Roberts got back with them, he did a little showing and Jack Halpern, who also lives in the SF Bay area, bought a dozen of them at the time. This was the largest matrix specimen, the richest, and the biggest piece overall - and has sat happily in the Halpern collection ever since (nearly 30 years). $1500 on the old Roberts' label was a lot of money in the early 1990s for a contemporary find of a "common species," and we value it at $10,000 or more in today's market and dollars. As the old collections turn over, fewer and fewer of these will appear to market until the next generational turnover.