Datolite with Gmelinite (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

The famous Prospect Park Quarry is one of the most impressive (and under appreciated) Zeolite localities in the world. This quarry has produced some amazing specimens in the last 100 years. This specimen is an old piece, dating back around 50 years which features a layer of beautiful sharp, lustrous, gemmy green Datolite crystals sitting atop orange to reddish colored Gmelinite on basalt matrix. The largest Datolite measures 9 mm. Sadly, this great New Jersey locality is being filled in for a housing development (like so many of the great Trap Rock localities in this area), and pieces like this one will be never be collected again. This specimen comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). The piece comes with a typed label from Wulff on one of his famous 3x5 index card that states he obtained the piece from William C. McKinley of Peoria, Illinois. The label says the piece is from "Patteson" (actually Paterson), and although Prospect Park is not in Paterson, a lot of specimens from this quarry were labeled as such back in the day.