Hübnerite on Quartz (RARE locality specimen)

Item Description

A robust cabinet specimen from the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, but from a notably rare locality. Typically the Hübnerite specimens you'll see on the market from this area are from the Adams Mine, but this piece is from the lesser known Red and Bonita Occurrence (sometimes labeled as Red Bonita Mine) featuring a very similar style to their counterparts from the Adams Mine. This piece hosts many good quality, dark reddish-brown, thin prismatic crystals measuring up to 1.2 cm, sitting on a mound of fine crystallized Quartz. What sets this piece apart from the Adams Mine specimens is the quality of the Quartz crystals, as the Adams Mine pieces typically feature a more granular un-crystallized Quartz matrix, but this piece has well-defined Quartz crystals, making it quite desirable for any fan of minerals of the Hübnerite-Ferberite series, or minerals of Colorado, specifically the San Juans.
From the collection of the recently deceased Alvaro Lucio, arguably the most well-known and accomplished mineral dealer and collector in Brazil. Alvaro graduated with a degree in civil engineering, mining and metallurgy from the Escola de Minas de Ouro Preto in 1949. He began his PhD in the United States and completed it at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He worked as a professor of extractive metallurgy at UFMG, and also as a technical consultant for several companies in the sector. He was the author of several works, published in books and magazines around the world. He received several honors for his contribution to the development of metallurgy and the introduction of metallurgical physical chemistry in Brazil. His knowledge, solicitousness and enthusiasm will be greatly missed in the mineral world.