Quartz (large impressive specimen) (Collected by Dave Bergman circa 1965)

Item Description

The historic and highly productive Idarado Mine in the San Juan Mountains Colorado gets is name from the combination of the Idaho based Sunshine Mining Company and Newmont Mining in Colorado (IDA-ho + coloRADO = IDARADO). This mine was one of the great ore producers in all of the Colorado and the United States for that matter, rich in both precious metals and base metals. Some of the best and most well-known display specimens of minerals like Quartz came out of this mine. This particular piece is a fantastic large cabinet display specimen featuring many sharp, well-formed, lustrous, "stubby" crystals of Quartz measuring up to 5.7 cm long with very minor matrix underneath. Virtually all of the crystals are undamaged, and the quality is about as good as you'll see from the locality in terms of luster and sharpness. Keep in mind that a lot of Idarado Quartz specimen are milky with a muted or even "dull" luster, so this piece is quite superior to many you'll see (which is typically in museums or old collections). The Idarado closed for good in 1978, so none of these fantastic specimens have been found in nearly 45 years. If you're a fan of Quartz, large cabinet display specimens, minerals of Colorado, or simply impressive crystallized examples of well-known mineral species, do not pass this one up. This specimen was collected by Dave Bergman in 1965, who worked at the Idarado from 1964 to 1968. Dave is now retired, but he mined all over Colorado and was most famously the former the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also 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". Priced at $3,500 in the inventory.