Titanite

Item Description

An attractive thick, tabular, dark brown Titanite crystal from the Bear Lake diggings (Gibson Road Western occurrence), with sharp, lustrous, well-formed faces, and no matrix. The piece is complete on the front and back, though there is a bit of roughness around the edges, so it's not completely damage-free. The piece almost reminds me of an Axinite-Fe crystal in terms of form and color. These are classics, very easy to recognize, and they are some of the most distinctive examples of Titanite from any world locality.
From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#8186). This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.