Opal (var: Precious Opal) (ex Bill and Anne Cook Collection)

Item Description

A seldom seen specimen from Mintabie featuring a gorgeous multicolor patch of Precious Opal measuring 3.0 cm at its longest dimension sitting in host rock matrix. When rotated in the light, the Opal shows beautiful flashes of red, gold, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. A really attractive matrix display specimen of this hard to find material from many years ago. The label accompanying the piece states it was collected in 1989. Valued at $1,500. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio. This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.