Native Selenium in Sandstone (Whitmore Coll.)

Item Description

Native selenium specimens are uncommon worldwide. Specimens from this very obscure New Mexico locality are extremely rare and this is a super-rich example. Sparkly metallic micro-crystals totally cover the front of the sandstone matrix. Information from the Robert Whitmore Collection indicates the piece is from Valencia County. Valencia County lost lost most of it's mineral localities with the creation of Cibola county in 1981. Acquired by Whitmore in 1984, this ultra-rare specimen probably dates to the active uranium mining period from the 1940s to early 1960s. Value of such a rarity to the native elements or locality collector???