Pyrite and Quartz ex Kidwell (classic find)

Item Description

Here's a geometric and aesthetic combination specimen from the famous Spruce Claim in Washington State that has produced some of the best Pyrite-Quartz combinations in North America. A single, glassy, transparent, prismatic and fully terminated Quartz crystal juxtaposed to a nearly perfect, brassy yellow, lightly striated Pyrite cube. The Quartz crystal is 5.6 cm long and has a glassy luster and is also host to a dozen smaller Quartz crystal to 5 mm just under the Pyrite cube. The Pyrite is classic cube form with a couple corners having barely perceptible, triangular shaped octahedral forms. The cube faces are ever so slightly striated resulting in a slight satin sheen to the crystal and they are almost perfectly flat with only some subtle growth features on the face. The very back of the Pyrite is contacted and there is a slight bit of edge wear very locally - acceptable for this extremely difficult locality atop a mountain. Overall, as a dramatic combination, this is a superb miniature piece from this hard to access locality. This is the most classic style for the locale! It was purchased in the early 1980s. From the diverse and historic collection of one of the great field collectors and mineralogists of mid-1900s Texas, Albert Kidwell of Houston (1919-2008), after whom the mineral Kidwellite is named.