Sphalerite with Calcite (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

A nice small cabinet sized display specimen from the famous locality at Picher. There are not a lot of species found in this area, but the Sphalerites remain as some of the most recognizeable specimens from the locality. This specimen comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). The piece comes with a typed label from Wulff. Sharp, semi-lustrous, striated, deep reddish-black tetrahedral crystals of Sphalerite with minor yellow Calcite on matrix. The largest Sphalerite measures 5 mm across, but the best quality crystals are actually some of the tiny ones with regard to luster and gemminess. Good quality, but not damage free as you can see in the photos. Despite the fact that there was a lot of these pieces on the market years ago, very few of them are out there now. For reference, the label refers to the piece as Calcite and Sphalerite, but the Calcite is secondary at best.