Witherite (doubly-terminated) on Fluorite

Item Description

The Witherites from the Minerva No. 1 Mine in Southern Illinois are among the finest and largest examples of this barium carbonate mineral in the world. Most of the time, if you find Witherites from this locality associated with Fluorite, it's usually a small amount of attached purple or yellow spots on the piece, and it's exceptionally RARE to find crystals like this ON Fluorite matrix. Not only is this particular piece rare for its composition, but it's notably fine quality to boot as it features a beautiful doubly-terminated, pseudo-hexagonal (orthorhombic with pyramidal terminations), off-white colored, translucent crystal measuring 2.7 cm, aesthetically perched atop wonderful rich golden-yellow colored Fluorite matrix, with minor white associated Alstonite. The piece was mined circa 1965, making it roughly 60 years old, and it is one of the best examples of Witherite ON Fluorite that we've had to offer. I would go so far as to call it a competition level miniature, as doubly-terminated crystals of this quality on Fluorite are exceedingly hard to find. The piece was formerly in the collections of John Schneider and H. H. Freedman, and passed through a few dealer's hands before ending up in George's collection. I honestly value this one in the $5,000 range for its superb quality, arrangement and scarcity on the market these days. A top notch Witherite from one of the premier localities for the species.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 14.1.3.2 IL.10; 5328 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