Hübnerite (rare locality specimen) (Mined: 1977)

Item Description

The famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado is best known for producing arguably the finest Rhodochrosite crystals in the world, but one thing that it does not get credit for is the quality of its Hübnerites. Experienced collectors are likely familiar with the large reddish-bronze colored Hübnerites from the Adams Mine in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, but those crystals are opaque and rarely truly red in color. The best Hübnerites from the Sweet Home Mine are actually GEMMY (similar quality to the famous crystals from the Huayllapon Mine in Peru) and show a deep blood red color when backlit. This piece is an excellent specimen of Hübnerite, as the crystals (with strong backlighting) show a fiery red color on the edges. They are associated with a dusting of Quartz along with minor black Sphalerite at the base. A really cool old time specimen of this hard to find material from the Sweet Home.
From the collection of Colorado mining legend Dave Bergman, who personally collected this specimen in 1977 at the Sweet Home Mine. Dave is now retired, but among other things, he was the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".