Silver (classic material)

Item Description

The town of Colquechaca in Bolivia is a one of the most historic and well-known silver mining localities in the entire country. Mining dates back (at least through documentation) to Spanish colonial times, but it was almost certainly mined by the native peoples long before the arrival of the Spanish. Colquechaca is the type locality for the incredibly rare and sought after silver tin sulfide, Canfieldite, and it's best known for producing a good number of fine silver and silver-bearing species. This small cabinet display specimen is from a discovery around 2000-2001 and features a sold group of semi-dendritic / arborescent, crystallized / crystalline silver which is accented by some protruding wire-esque forms flaring out in various directions. An mentioned, this is solid silver, with no matrix or any real associated minerals to be seen. One rarely has the chance to purchase a silver specimen from this important old locality, and if you collect native elements or minerals from Bolivia, do not miss out on this beautiful and eye-catching piece for your collection. Valued $750.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.