Wulfenite (classic material)

Item Description

The famous Red Cloud Mine is one of the world's top localities for Wulfenite. This famous mine in western Arizona has produced these supreme Wulfenites for many decades. The finest crystals from this mine have an intense red-orange hue, which are also 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 a few very sharp, highly lustrous, intense red-orange colored, tabular bladed crystals measuring up to 1.1 cm, sitting aesthetically on matrix. With backlighting, you can see that the crystals show fiery internal color with a bit of gemminess. There are some minor nicks, along with some interrupted growth where the crystals were intergrown with surrounding matrix in the pocket, but it's still very attractive and showy as you can see. The piece actually sits quite well on its own without the aid of a base or clay.
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".