Silver (7-piece set) (twinned groups)

Item Description

A wonderful 7-piece set of aesthetic thumbnail to miniature sized Native Silver specimens from the classic locality at Batopilas, Mexico. These pieces all feature excellent, defined Spinel-law twinned, "Herringbone"-style crystals with a beautiful patina, free of matrix. The wonderful form is part of what makes Batopilas such a great locality, as you almost never see this type of crystallized Silver from anywhere else. They are immediately distinguished from all other Silver specimens around the world. A great opportunity to pick up several wonderful Silver specimens from this important historic Mexican locality.
From the collection of 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 was mentored by Dr. Frederick Pough of the American Museum of Natural History. Ron 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.