Sulfur xl (old classic) ex Bement Coll. circa late 1800's

Item Description

A rich canary-yellow, sharp, lustrous, gemmy/translucent sulfur crystal from Agrigento. This fine old-timer has a super provenance, having been in the collection of Clarence Bement, who assembled one of the greatest collections of all time. Bement sold his 12500 piece collection to financier J.P. Morgan in 1910, and he donated it to the city and people of New York via the American Museum of Natural History in Central Park. That's the American Museum curator's handwritten number 89 on the back of the crystal, which dates the piece to Bement's early days in the late 1860's, just after he started collecting. The numbers were painted on by curator Louis gratacap in after 1910, for the specimens that went into the display cases of the museum. The termination and the lower half of the right side are contacted, but there is very little actual damage. A classic and desirable Sicily sulfur crystal with a fine provenance. I bought this piece in a lot with others that had full written train of ownership back to the AMNH and a famous deaccession/trade they did with Charlie Key in the late 1960s. This piece went from the Museum to Charlie Key, to collector Tom Hall, from whom I got it years ago in an exchange. Valued $2000-plus. NOTE: no original label survived with the specimen but I have seen and verified the entry in the original master accession logbook for the Morgan donation of the Bement collection at the AMNH showing specimen #89, as Italian Sulfur, and validated the handwritten number and ink system on the back of the piece with other specimens from the same collection. It is valid, although no paper label from the museum exists with it to confirm.