Witherite and Alstonite (rare & excellent) ex Whitmore Coll.

Item Description

An outstanding and rare combination specimen from the famous Minerva No. 1 Mine of Southern Illinois. Two, sharp, lustrous and glassy, hexagonal witherite crystals to 4.2 cm with nifty stepped-growth faces are very jauntily set on the blocky matrix. The surprise on the backside and bottom are 6-8 clusters of tufted sprays of microcrystalline alstonite scalenohedrons. This is a very rich and fine example of this rare barium carbonate from this locale. The lower termination on the large witherite is cleaved, but is a modest detraction to the overall quality of this fine piece. The combination with the sharp witherite crystals makes this an exceptional specimen. OLD and rare material. Ex Allen Blakeslee, Marcelle and Charles Weber (with a 1971 date on their card) and Robert Whitmore Collections.