Howlite (important historic piece) (ex Manchester Collection!)

Item Description

Howlite is a fairly rare species, that is not often found in fine quality display specimen. It's best known from the Bras D'Or Lake Locality in Nova Scotia, along with Tick Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, but THIS piece is from the TYPE LOCALITY for the species, Black's Quarry in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Not only is this material RIDICULOUSLY RARE on the market (I had never seen a piece of this material before this one), this piece comes with added bonus of formerly belonging to the collection of James G. Manchester, the famous mineral collector and author from New York City (https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/manchesterjames-g/). Manchester served as President of the New York Mineralogical Club, succeeding George F. Kunz in that position, and financed the Club's publication of his book, The Minerals of New York City and Its Environs, one of most definitive mineral books of the first half of the 20th Century. This particular specimen is a beautiful botryoidal cluster of Howlite, with no real matrix. It almost looks like a white "brain"-shaped group or a kind of "puffball" mushroom. You can see Manchester's collection number "693" is on the base of the specimen. The piece is accompanied by a label from Manchester's widow, Florence Pilkington Manchester, along with a dealer label from John Betts. I can't possibly determine a fair market value for such a rare specimen from the type locality that belonged to such a prestigious mineral collector, but I could easily see this piece priced in the $2,000-$3,000 range.