Hematite (''feather'') (large specimen)

Item Description

An impressive and bizarre growth of nature, these strange Hematite formations come from just a few of the worlds iron mining districts. This is a particularly large and elegant example, most of the big ones are clunkier, so to find a piece this size with such fine form and definition is significant. It comes from the historic mining districts of upper Michigan, and was formerly in the William Pinch collection. It is an elegant piece with wet-looking, waxy luster and is terminated at both ends. Valued $3,000 for size, quality and relative obscurity on the market.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.