Phosgenite (old classic material) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

One of the great old Italian classics! Phosgenites from Monteponi are the standard for the species, and the best crystals are incredibly eye-catching. This piece features sharp, gemmy / semi-transparent, prismatic, glassy Phosgenite crystals in parallel growth with a bit of attached matrix on this lovely old-time specimen from this famous mine on the island of Sardinia. A classic specimen of these desirable and now hard to find specimens. The piece comes from the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016). David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered. Additionally, there are labels from mineral dealer Josef Vajdak who states the piece was collected nearly 100 yaers ago in the 1920s, plus two more labels from unknown collections. One of these labels states that the piece was acquired from a Mr. Hing Lum of Bancroft, Ontario and that it was once part of the Giorgio Bottoni collection of Italy. A historic specimen from what is arguably the most famous Phosgenite locality in the world. The article in the Mineralogical Record from a few years details this amazing locality, and specimens like this are not common on the market. Valued at $800.