Creedite (excellent color)

Item Description

Certainly one could say that the finest specimens of Creedite in the world are those from the Navidad Mine in Mexico. If you take into consideration the sheer number of fine quality display specimens, found in larger than average sizes that have come out over the years, then you have say these are at least among the most significant examples of the species ever found. Then you throw in the rare and eye-catching orange color, and you have something special. As is often the case, the quantity of specimens found probably diminished their overall value, but they are truly remarkable for what they are. You never seen orange Creedite like this from anywhere else, and the style and quality of the pieces is about as good as you can ask for. This piece is a fine quality cabinet display specimen featuring crystallized "sprays" comprising many sharp, well-formed, lustrous, gemmy, strong orange to nearly colorless prismatic crystals of Creedite, with individual crystals measuring up to 1.1 cm. A layer of crystalline white Quartz can be seen underneath. A very eye-catching example of the oft-underappreciated pieces from Mexico.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.