Smithsonite with Rosasite (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

Leadville is well known for its Silver deposits, but the secondary ore minerals from the Sherman mine are beloved by Colorado collectors. Here we have a rare secondary ore association specimen for the locality. This piece features sharp, lustrous, well-formed, small golden to brownish colored, translucent crystals of Smithsonite which are associated with minor greenish-blue Rosasite spherical aggregates on matrix. I know it's not what you typically expect from a Colorado specimen, and this material is rare from this mine. A good overall specimen for any secondary mineral collector or somebody who loves minerals of Leadville. This specimen is over 30 years old as it was collected in 1980 and came from the collection Brian Kosnar from his father Richard Kosnar. This piece is from the personal collection of Dave Bergman. Dave is a Colorado miner (the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s) and the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".