Freibergite Subgroup (superb locality specimen)

Item Description

This is without question the largest and finest Freibergite specimen that we've ever had to offer from the Eagle Mine. It might be the best Freibergite that we've had to offer from any locality due to its impressive size and quality. One rarely encounters near large cabinet sized examples of this member of the Tetrahedrite Group is such showy examples. Freibergite used to be defined as a kind of silver-bearing Tetrahedrite, but now would be more technically classified as one of the Argentotetrahedrite species, though it has not been analyzed, so we cannot say for certain which species it is. With that said, this spectacular, big, impressive display specimen features a rich amount of fine quality, well-formed, silvery-grey colored modified isometric crystals of "Freibergite" which have formed beautiful "stacked" groups, associated with brilliant light golden metallic Pyrite crystals. The piece is in amazingly good condition, with no major damage I can find. It's crystallized on both sides and displays beautifully as you can see from the video. The piece originally was part of the collection of Dr. Marvin Rausch, of Amherst, Massachusetts, who only collected large cabinet display specimens, and this is certainly a breathtaking example from this famous zinc mine near the ghost town of Gilman, Colorado.
Valued $7,500-$10,000.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 3.3.6.3 CO.2; 8707. George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information