Sulfur (rare TEXAS locality)

Item Description

This is a notably hard to find specimen of Sulfur from the Duval Fort Stockton Mine in Pecos County, Texas featuring glowing lemon yellow colored crystals measuring up to 8 mm, on micro crystallized Calcite on matrix. The crystals have excellent, smooth, lustrous, well-formed faces and even a bit of gemminess internally. Minerals from Texas are not terribly common on the market, and pieces from this locality are virtually unseen.
This piece comes from the personal collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman, the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. Dave is now retired from mining, but he worked for decades in various mines underground in Colorado, as a miner, mechanic, engineer, shift boss and foreman. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the foreman and the primary person in charge of mining and specimen recovery at the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado in the 1970s alongside his son-in-law, Rich Kosnar. This project what was the FIRST ever operation for specimen recovery at this historic locality. A full-page photograph of Dave can be seen mining underground at the Sweet Home in on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".