Goethite - old urban NYC area locale

Item Description

Staten Island was the home to extensive iron mining from about 1640 to 1885. Grymes Hill (Signal Hill) was one of the more minor locations in this borough of New York, so this very fine, lustrous, reniform mass of Goethite crystals is extraordinary for the location, and very aesthetic in and of itself. The shiny, jet-black surface, as well as the intricate growth patterns where exposaed, both add greatly to the attractiveness and interest if the piece. Since commercial mining ended, these mines, like so many others places, have been subject to hobby collecting. Pieces similar to this aesthetic Goethtite were privately collected in the 1960's, but the exact era that this miniature was collected is unclear. From the large worldwide collection of historical minerals, of George Elling of New Jersey.