Spangolite (collected by Fred Pough and Mark Bandy in 1959)

Item Description

Spangolite is a rare hydrated copper aluminum sulfate mineral, and considered to be one of the most highly sought after rarities from the southwestern United States. The combination of rarity and beauty makes it one of those minerals that collectors are always hunting for, especially in good crystallized examples. It's quite difficult to get your hands on a good specimen, as very little is available these days. This pieces features attractive, gemmy, rich greenish-blue colored micro crystals of Spangolite on matrix. We have photographed the piece with a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. If the quality of the crystals were not enough, this piece has an important historical significance, as it was collected in 1959 by the legendary Fred Pough and Mark Bandy, two of the most accomplished US mineralogists of the 20th century. You can read their biographies on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=90 ) ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=583 ). We purchased this specimen from a pair of good friends in Tucson who informed us that Pough and Bandy collected it. The piece looks beautiful up close, and if you collect secondary copper minerals, micros or minerals of New Mexico, you need to have one of these in your collection. Its value is only amplified by the fact that it passed through the hands of two mineralogical icons.