ridiculously large Wulfenite

Item Description

This item is part of a special benefit auction for the Rice Museum of Rocks & Minerals (ricenorthwestmuseum.org). Items are either deaccessions from the museum's collection or were donated by generous supporters listed below.

Auction open April 1, 2021 through April 17, 2021.

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, April 19, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

Here we have, quite literally, a ridiculously large specimen of a historic classic combination, that is a museum sized display specimen. This is the biggest good example I have seen turn up in decades, of this famous style of wulfenite from old Mexico. It features gorgeous, lustrous orange 'caramels' averaging in at 1 cm in size. It is not quite without damage - there are some damaged crystals here and there, but only 1 in 100, and most of those can be removed with care at a cleaning laboratory while leaving it large. In fact, the specimen could go through a radical trim in a lab, and come out as 2/3 the size, with most periphery damage removed and making for an even better and still really sizable, balanced, 10-inch sized core specimen. There are numerous possibilities here for improving it - but it is, nevertheless, quite important and good exactly as it is (fresh from the mines over 50 years ago!)