Stibnite on Quartz (old CA) Kidwell Coll.

Item Description

Mineral specimens are uncommon and desirable from this old extinct California mercury-antimony mining district. Mining started around 1870 and was intermittently active until the 1950s. Splendent metallic stibnite blades, to 2.5 cm, are clustered on all four sides of the vuggy blocky quartz-rich small cabinet matrix. The heyday of fine stibnites probably dates from 1870 to around 1900, when antimony mining was at its peak. Some of the finest USA stibnites were recovered from here. See the 1989 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 20, No. 6. From the worldwide mineral collection of Albert Lewis Kidwell (January 1, 1919 - August 16, 2008) and acquired in 1962. Al was a well-known mineral collector and research geologist with Carter Oil Company and later Exxon Oil Company in Houston, Texas. The phosphate species Kidwellite was named in his honor in 1974. Probably old-time material but no proof. A must for the species or locality collector.