Enargite (rare twinned crystal for the locality)

Item Description

Butte is one of the major historic mining districts in the United States. Various mines in Butte have produced some of the finest crystals of Enargite ever found. The Leonard Mine is often cited as the premier locality in the district for the species. Good Butte specimens are quite difficult to find on the market today, so we're always happy to see them. This piece is significant for the fact that it features a rarely seen TWINNED crystal of Enargite measuring 1.7 cm with excellent, sharp, lustrous, dark metallic grey-black faces, aesthetically perched atop additional crystals of Enargite, plus minor golden metallic Pyrite and Quartz. Minor damage can be seen, but it's still in good condition overall, and quite showy for this historic and now elusive material from Butte.
This piece comes from the personal collection of recently deceased Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman (1939-2025), the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. Dave is now retired from mining, but he worked for decades in various mines underground in Colorado, as a miner, mechanic, engineer, shift boss and foreman. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the foreman and the primary person in charge of mining and specimen recovery at the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado in the 1970s alongside his son-in-law, Rich Kosnar. This project what was the FIRST ever operation for specimen recovery at this historic locality. A full-page photograph of Dave can be seen mining underground at the Sweet Home in on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".