Halite (rare locality)

Item Description

Most people don’t associate Halite with the city of Detroit, Michigan, but there is actually a significant (and still operating) salt mine just a few miles west of the downtown area. This locality is now called the Detroit Salt Company Mine, but it's had a few different names over the years. Actual mining dates back to the early 1900s, and over the years, select specimens of Halite have found their way out of the mine and into private collections. This piece is only labeled as coming from Wayne County, Michigan, but there's only one locality for Halite in Wayne County, so it's unquestionably from the Detroit Salt Company Mine. The piece features excellent, sharp, well-formed, gemmy, colorless cubes measuring up to 3.8 cm on edge, with no matrix. The center of the piece has some dark inclusions, but the exterior crystals are pure and colorless. The piece is in great condition, with no major damage that I can see on the front/display side, and it's even crystallized on the back, so it's complete most of the way around. If you collect minerals of the Midwestern US, or if you're a Halite fan, or if you just like interesting locality specimens, don't less this unique and seldom-seen Halite get away. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio. This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.