Goethite (fine quality) with ''Onegite'' (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

Goethite chemically is iron oxide, and it's not a species that most people associate with excellent crystallized specimens. The pieces from around the Lake George / Crystal Peak area in Colorado are almost certainly the best crystallized representations of the species in my mind. It's important to remember that the vast majority of Goethite you'll see on the market is either massive / uncrystallized or reniform / botryoidal, so euhedral defined crystals are RARE. This is a wonderful cabinet sized display piece filled with fine, sharp, lustrous, golden-black colored "blades" Goethite forming "spray"-like crystallized groups with associated crystals of "Onegite" (Quartz / Amethyst with Goethite inclusions). The largest Goethite blade measures 2.1 cm long, and the largest "Onegite" is about 3 mm. A fantastic piece with superb quality and aesthetics. Minor roughness in a spots, but the piece is so showy and three-dimensional that it really overshadows any imperfections. This is something that most collectors don't even think about adding to their collections because it's a "black rock", but when you take the superior crystallization into account, you realize that these are some of the best crystallized representations of the species extant! Priced at $1,800 in our inventory. Lastly, the pronunciation of this species is a bit confusing, but we like to point out that it was named after the famous German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, so it is properly pronounced GER-tite (with a hard "g" like gold). From the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman. Dave is now retired from mining, but spent many years underground, including as 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".