Quartz "cast" with Calcite and Pyrite (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

The Camp Bird mine is one of the most classic San Juan Mountain localities, and is famous for its sulfides along with very attractive Quartz and Calcite specimens. This piece is a very attractive and aesthetic display specimen with a gentle "lattice"-like group of thin crystalline Quartz that has formed "casts" after a preexsiting mineral (most likely Anhydrite) and is associated with scalenohedral, translucent Calcite crystals along with small metallic golden Pyrite. The piece has such a graceful form with a flowing, three-dimensional appearance. The largest Quartz measures 2.1 cm tip to tip, and the largest individual Calcite measures 1.2 cm long. Beautiful up close, rare for the locality, and incredibly hard to find on the market these days. This piece was mined in the 1960s by Dave Bergman, and and came from his personal collection. Dave is a Colorado miner (the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s) and the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".