Epidote ex. Sir Robert Ferguson Coll. (circa 1800)

Item Description

Epidote was named in 1801 by famed French mineralogist Rene Just Hauy from the well-known deposits at Bourg d'Oisans, Rhone-Alpes, France. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Crystallography." (Wikipedia). This fine old-time Austrian specimen comes with a German label with a fantastic, sharp crystal drawing with numbered faces. The showy and rich specimen itself features intergrown sections of lustrous, sharp, olive-green crystals with tiny paper labels designating the crystal faces. The crystal sections are up to 3.8 cm long. This is a RARE and highly desirable old labeled epidote with the label probably dating to the early-1800s. This classic piece hails from the the Sir Robert Ferguson Collection (1769-1840). We first helped bring this collection to market back in the late 1990s. He was a member of Parliament and the landed nobility from Fife, Scotland (he had stopped collecting by 1810 AS A RESULT OF A DIVORCE SETTLEMENT INVOLVING LORD ELGIN, OF THE MARBLES FAME!). A real and desirable antique!