Topaz (fine classic gemmy crystal)

Item Description

This is a wonderful old-time Topaz, mined in the 1970s from the famed Klein Spitzkopje granite stock in Namibia. This locality has been regarded as one of the great Topaz-producing localities in the last 50 years or so. The crystals from this area are iconic for their form, size and quality. This crystal is a very gemmy, rather sharp, well-formed, lustrous, single prism that is virtually colorless, though I suppose you could say it has a very faint smoky hue in certain lighting. No major damage, outside of the base of the crystal, and it's a perfect full-sized miniature. A fantastic representative example of these well-known Topaz crystals. Specimen weight is 61.2 grams. Valued at $2,000.
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".