Pyromorphite (classic material)

Item Description

The famed San Andrés Mine in Spain is what most people would consider to be the premier locality for Pyromorphite in the entire country. The vibrant green hue of the crystals found there, combined with the excellent quality and form makes these highly desirable and iconic examples of the species. This piece is a good sized display specimen hosting many superb quality, very well-formed, sharp, lustrous, vibrant green colored hexagonal prisms measuring up to 7 mm, sitting atop oxidized matrix. A large percentage of the crystals are undamaged, and look beautiful up close. Both sides of the specimen feature fine quality crystals, and it displays quite nicely as you can see. From the 1990s-2000s era of mining, and really good for the locality with larger sized crystals and very little in way of damage. There are only a handful of localities in the world that produce fine display quality specimens of Pyromorphite in this size with this color. Originally valued on the previous dealer label at $2,000 from years ago, and I would put it closer to the $5,000 range today.
From the collection of Jack Halpern No. 2734. Jack was born May 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, but has been a long-time resident of San Francisco. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the world encompassing over 3,200 specimens with a specific emphasis on color, quality, and style/aesthetics, which is evident in every piece. He admired specimens of all sizes from thumbnails to large cabinets and the vast majority of them rank from fine to world-class in their quality.
Above all else, Jack is considered to be the greatest gentleman in the modern era of mineral collecting. He is beloved by all those who have met him, and he truly is one of the most iconic figures in the mineral world. We recently acquired Jack's collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality pieces for their collections. We are honored to have the opportunity to offer Jack's treasures to everyone on a regular basis in the auctions.
We encourage you to read our blog post at https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection or his profile on the Mineralogical Record website https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/halpernjack/ for more information