Sphalerite (gemmy twin)

Item Description

A classic and desirable thumbnail specimen of the well-known Sphalerites from the famous Iron Cap Mine in Arizona. These specimens are beloved by Arizona collectors, as they are the best GEM quality examples of the species from anywhere in the entire state. One of these specimens was featured on the cover of The Mineralogical Record (Vol. 19, No. 2 March - April 1988), and it's regarded among the most iconic Sphalerites from any US locality. This piece features an excellent "Spinel"-twinned crystal measuring 9 mm with sharp faces, and a beautiful golden-green color when backlit, aesthetically sitting on matrix. A very nice Arizona sulfide specimen.
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.