Hübnerite with Rhodochrosite, Quartz and sulfides (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

The Sweet Home Mine 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 Hubnerites. Most people are probably familiar with the large bronze colored Hubnerites from the Adams Mine in the San Juan Mountains, but those crystals are opaque and rarely truly red in color. The best Hubnerites 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 Hubnerite, as many crystals (with strong backlighting) show a bit of red color peeking through here and there. The largest Hubnerite prism on the piece measures 1.2 cm long, and they are associated with thin "needle" Quartz along with Pyrite, Galena and Sphalerite. If you look closely, there is one tiny pink rhomb of Rhodochrosite on the specimen as well, for a nice touch. 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".