Stellerite (fine rare locality specimen)

Item Description

An impressive and hard to find near large cabinet-sized display specimen of these elusive and fine quality Stellerites from the Ritter Hot Springs are in Grant County, Oregon. Beautiful, spherical aggregates of notably lustrous, translucent Stellerite of a soft beige hue cover the entire display side of the underlying matrix. No damage and very presentable. A really choice piece of a zeolite species that is not often seen in such large and eye-catching display specimens.
From the collection of Albert M. “Al” Liebetrau (1938-2023) and Suzanne "Sue" Liebetrau (# Ste 964).
Both Al and Sue were from Wisconsin originally, but lived in various places in the US and Europe, eventually ending up in Oregon. Al was a teacher (from high school to the university level) and statistician with degrees in math and statistics, and Sue taught English and worked as a technical editor for Battelle Memorial Institute. While Al has since passed away, Sue is still a very active member of the mineral collecting community. The Liebetraus were married for over 60 years (they were married in 1960) and assembled a world-class collection of fine quality crystallized display specimens, along with one of the great fluorescent mineral collections in the United States. Incidentally, Al was the former president of the Fluorescent Mineral Society, and was the main person in charge of putting together the massive number of displays at the 2021 Tucson Show (fluorescent minerals was the theme that year).
Mineral specimens from their collection have won multiple awards at various shows, including the prestigious Lidstrom Trophy for the best mineral specimen at the TGMS Show in Tucson, along with the Desautels Trophy for the best case. Additionally, the Liebetraus were awarded the Romero Award for best Mexican specimen, and the Bideaux Trophy for best Arizona specimen.
You can read more about Al and Sue and their lives at the following link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00357529.2023.2236000