Witherite (doubly-terminated) with Calcite and Fluorite

Item Description

A fantastic big matrix display specimen of these world-class Witherites from the famous Minerva No. 1 Mine in Southern Illinois featuring a doubly-terminated, pseudo-hexagonal group of a light golden color with a slight "hourglass" shape measuring 7.9 cm, associated with pale cream colored "dogtooth"-shaped Calcite crystals and minor blue/purple gemmy Fluorite along with dark brownish-black Sphalerite on matrix. The Witherite specimens from Hardin County, and specifically the Minerva No. 1 Mine are some of the finest examples of the species ever seen, and pieces like this are few and far between on the market today. The piece was collected in 1969 and was originally in the collection of Purley Goolsby, who traded it to Jim Minette. Valued $7,000.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 14.1.3.2 IL.8; 2883 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