Orthoclase (Carlsbad Twin)

Item Description

A fine, showy aesthetic display specimen of very hard to find specimens from the old classic example of these elusive specimens from the Jarilla Mountains in New Mexico. This miniature specimen hosts a beautiful and of Carlsbad-twinned Orthoclase crystal with sharp, well-formed faces and a pinkish-beige hue measuring 2.8 cm, flaring of matrix. This piece was collected in the 1970s, and is certainly the very best example I've had to offer from this area. 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".