Wulfenite (classic material)

Item Description

The famous Red Cloud Mine in Western Arizona is one of the premier localities for Wulfenite in the world. The finest crystals from this mine have an intense red-orange hue, which are larger than average compared to most from around the world, and often with a bit of gemminess. This piece is a showy example of this classic material featuring many very sharp, highly lustrous, dark orange colored, tabular bladed crystals measuring up to 1.7 cm, sitting aesthetically on brecciated matrix. With a good amount of lighting, you can see that the crystals show decent translucency. Minor nicks, but no major damage that I can find anywhere, and it's rather showy as you can see.
From the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman. Dave is now retired from mining, but spent many years underground, including as the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures"