Langite (rare)

Item Description

A beautiful and fairly hard to find Langite specimen from the Mountain Mine in Ireland. Some of the finest examples of this rare copper sulfate species come from various copper mines in Ireland, and I think it's safe to say the most well-known pieces are those from Allihies. This miniature sized piece features sparkly, micro crystalline, rich blue Langite on matrix. The color is truly captivating, and the Langites looks great under magnification. A very appealing example of the species and it's actually displayable with a nearly full coverage on the front/display side. This piece comes from the personal collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman, the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. Dave is now retired from mining, but he worked for decades in various mines underground in Colorado, as a miner, mechanic, engineer, shift boss and foreman. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the foreman and the primary person in charge of mining and specimen recovery at the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado in the 1970s alongside his son-in-law, Rich Kosnar. This project what was the FIRST ever operation for specimen recovery at this historic locality. A full-page photograph of Dave can be seen mining underground at the Sweet Home in on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".