Sphalerite (fine gemmy crystals)

Item Description

Some of the finest crystallized Sphalerite specimens from Colorado are the famous examples from Creede. This area is best known for its silver production, but the top Sphalerites are superb for what they are. This specimen is a great example of this classic material featuring very sharp, lustrous, well-formed, euhedral crystals of Sphalerite that show EXCELLENT internal gemminess when backlit, with a glowing yellow-green hue. The largest Sphalerite measures 7 mm across. This color is very desirable and fairly rare from Creede, as most of the gemmy crystals are some shade or golden/orange/brown, so the green crystals are valued more highly. The matrix is covered with tiny grey Quartz crystals. No major damage that I can find anywhere. An attractive and now hard to find display specimen of this classic material.
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.