Hübnerite (excellent crystal)

Item Description

Hübnerite crystals from a few localities in Peru certainly rank among the top examples of the species ever found in terms of size and quality of the crystals. This is a superb, incredibly well-formed, very sharp, prismatic crystal with a few minor accenting Hübnerites and gemmy colorless Quartz crystals. The pristine "chisel"-shaped termination is simply a textbook example of the species, and you rarely see such top-notch morphology in the species from Peru. No damage to the termination, along with the prism faces, and the only real roughness can be seen in minor spots (mostly on the Quartz crystals which were contacted in spots where the piece was connected to the pocket wall). With VERY strong backlighting, you can get a TINY bit of red color to come through the top edge of the termination, but the piece is essentially opaque.
From the collection of Albert M. “Al” Liebetrau (1938-2023) and Suzanne "Sue" Liebetrau (# Hu 1082).
Both Al and Sue were from Wisconsin originally, but lived in various places in the US and Europe, eventually ending up in Oregon. Al was a teacher (from high school to the university level) and statistician with degrees in math and statistics, and Sue taught English and worked as a technical editor for Battelle Memorial Institute. While Al has since passed away, Sue is still a very active member of the mineral collecting community. The Liebetraus were married for over 60 years (they were married in 1960) and assembled a world-class collection of fine quality crystallized display specimens, along with one of the great fluorescent mineral collections in the United States. Incidentally, Al was the former president of the Fluorescent Mineral Society, and was the main person in charge of putting together the massive number of displays at the 2021 Tucson Show (fluorescent minerals was the theme that year).
Mineral specimens from their collection have won multiple awards at various shows, including the prestigious Lidstrom Trophy for the best mineral specimen at the TGMS Show in Tucson, along with the Desautels Trophy for the best case. Additionally, the Liebetraus were awarded the Romero Award for best Mexican specimen, and the Bideaux Trophy for best Arizona specimen.
You can read more about Al and Sue and their lives at the following link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00357529.2023.2236000