Sylvanite (rare) (late 1800s-early 1900s)

Item Description

Cripple Creek was one of the richest gold producers in the history of Colorado mining. The richness of the ore was not in gold per se, but in gold-bearing telluride species, which carried much more gold per ounce that typical gold ore in rock from most other Colorado localities. One of the signature telluride minerals from this area is Sylvanite (silver gold telluride), and it's not just an ore mineral, it also forms in beautifully crystallized examples. This piece is a lovely display specimen hosting, thin almost dendritic crystals of bright metallic silvery colored Sylvanite measuring up to 1.7 cm long, which are partially encased by botryoidal Chalcedony, sitting on host rock matrix. Most Sylvanite crystals from Cripple Creek are less than 1 cm, so these crystals are certainly good sized for the locality and they are arranged in an almost "crosshatch"-style growth. A wonderful example of this rare and classic material that dates back to the late 1800s-early 1900s according to George's label which states it was originally found by Chauncy Williams, a prospector and miner from Colorado Springs. The specimen ended up in the collection of Joe Dague, by way of his paternal grandmother, and remained in Joe's collection for 66 years until George Loud purchased it in 2022.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 2973 CO.8; 10,228. George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information