Rutile (9 piece set)

Item Description

Here we have a beautiful set of 9 specimens of Rutile from Graves Mountain, Georgia, one of the premier localities for the species, not only in the US, but around the world. This set comprises all thumbnail sized specimens, most of which are loose individual crystals with sharp, smooth, well-formed faces and a dark metallic black hue, but a couple of the crystals are actually sitting on Quartz matrix, which is quite rare in my experience with the material. Most of the specimens are in good shape on the front display side, but a few of them have some minor imperfections. Overall it's a very nice group of these classic Rutile specimens from one of the most well-known localities in Georgia.
This set comes to us from the legendary Ron Romanella (February 28, 1932 - October 24, 2022), a well-known gem and mineral dealer from New York City. He studied mineralogy at Columbia School of Mines, and he was mentored by Dr. Frederick Pough of the American Museum of Natural History, and learned about the business side from well-known mineral dealers Hugh Ford and Maurice Hammoneau. Ron himself was a mentor to other successful East Coast mineral dealers such as Larry Conklin, Herb Obodda and even employed Dave Wilber for a time. He largely transitioned out of selling minerals as his business focused more on gems for the last few decades, and his sons Michael and Jerry have been running the family business in Scottsdale for many years now. With that said, Ron was one of the great powerhouse mineral dealers in the US for many years, offering fine quality specimens and gem crystals from classic and contemporary localities. Among his top achievements, is that Ron is credited with importing the first known crystals of Tanzanite into the US in the 1960s.