Manganite (old classic material)

Item Description

Manganite was described in the 1820s, and the first reported specimens came from Ilfeld in Thuringia, Germany. Here we are 200 years later and these piece are still regarded as the finest examples of the species known to this day. These specimens are world famous for their impressive large crystals in excellent form and quality. Nothing compares to best pieces from Ilfeld, as they are instantly recognizable with their beautiful heavily striated prismatic form and glistening luster. Although the locality is long defunct, collectors are always on the hunt for these classic old specimens as they occasionally will appear on the market from old collections. Here we have a nice small cabinet sized example of this beloved material featuring classic, sharp, well-formed, thick, jet-black colored prismatic crystals of Manganite with the iconic "stepped" terminations sitting atop massive Manganite matrix. The largest crystal measures 2.6 cm long. There are some contacted crystals, so the piece is not pristine, but it's still very showy and it's a good sized display piece. It's not easy to obtain excellent example of Manganite from Ilfeld like this, so if you collect German species, old classics or "black" rocks, this is a nice representative example for your collection. I value this one in the range of about $2,000-$2,500. 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".