Lepidomelane (ex Hugh A. Ford and Warren Foote specimen)

Item Description

An OLD historic specimen of "Lepidomelane", which is a term used for iron-rich dark mica species, which can include Annite, Tetra-ferri-annite, Siderophyllite and possibly a few others. This piece hosts beautiful, well-formed, rather lustrous, hexagonal crystal groups of essentially black Lepidomelane with minor golden spots of what could be Grossular or Vesuvianite in host rock matrix. The largest Lepidomelane measures 9 mm across. The most significant aspect of the piece is that it comes with a label from the famous New York mineral dealer Hugh A. Ford. Since the label has Ford's New York address it dates to 1946-1957. Additionally, one can see that the back of the specimen reveals a beautiful old time label from the son of the late dealer Warren Foote of Philadelphia. These two labels are worth a great deal to any collector, and a piece like this is certainly worth picking up just for the pedigree!