Silver with Fluorite (RARE combo for this classic locality)

Item Description

Kongsberg is one of the great silver-producing districts in the world. It is famous for not only producing world-class specimens of Wire Silver, but also some excellent crystallized examples. Typically, the Silvers are either loose with no matrix, or are sitting on Calcite, but THIS piece is truly special for the fact that it features an incredibly rare association of purple Fluorite! This showy and highly aesthetic large miniature / small cabinet hosts a dramatic group of bright silvery-white colored, crystallized (not wires) Native Silver dramatically flaring off white Calcite matrix, with saturated purple Fluorite and a bit of dark grey Acanthite. One of the VERY few examples of this notably hard to find association from this renowned locality, and I would say it's the best one we've had to offer, certainly in the auctions.
Valued $10,000-$12,000.
From the collection of Jack Halpern No. 3256. Jack was born May 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, but has been a long-time resident of San Francisco. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the world encompassing over 3,200 specimens with a specific emphasis on color, quality, and style/aesthetics, which is evident in every piece. He admired specimens of all sizes from thumbnails to large cabinets and the vast majority of them rank from fine to world-class in their quality.
Above all else, Jack is considered to be the greatest gentleman in the modern era of mineral collecting. He is beloved by all those who have met him, and he truly is one of the most iconic figures in the mineral world. We recently acquired Jack's collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality pieces for their collections. We are honored to have the opportunity to offer Jack's treasures to everyone on a regular basis in the auctions.
We encourage you to read our blog post at https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection or his profile on the Mineralogical Record website https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/halpernjack/ for more information