Danburite (rare blue color) (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

One of the new finds from last Summer's collecting in Bolivia. While these specimens are not a new find per se, they are new specimens from a well known locality. These are the only BLUE Danburite crystals that I have ever seen from any locality. Truly the crystals themselves are colorless, but are included by a rare Amphibole called Magnesioriebeckite, for which this is the type locality. This specimen features a sharp, lustrous, well-formed, doubly-terminated prismatic, gray-blue color crystal of Danburite on Talc matrix. The Danburite crystal measures 2.1 cm. An interesting historical note about this locality: Supposedly the mineral was first discovered in the tomb of a "cacique" (a native Indian chief) where they had been placed jewels to signify that he was rich. The find of these crystals was made near there. From the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman. Dave is now retired, but among other things, he was the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".