Wulfenite on Quartz (classic locale circa 1900) Trimingham Coll.

Item Description

Hilltop Mine wulfenite is a relic of the early 1900s turn-of-century Wild West years in Arizona. Most specimens came out in the 1880s to WWI era. These remote mountains were so difficult at the time, that ore was brought out on the back of burros to get to market. Today, we seldom see specimens of wulfenite from this classic locality, but they do turn up in old collections from time to time. This sculptural, excellent large piece is richly and very attractively sprinkled with classic butterscotch color, highly lustrous, tabular crystals to 1.2 cm on sparkly drusy quartz matrix. Bruised and broken crystals are noted, but for the overall aesthetics and artistic style of this large piece, this really a fine and highly representative example of wulfenite from this desirable Arizona locality. The piece displays very well from either side, uncommon for specimens from here. Ex Bob Trimingham Collection. The former dealer had this priced at $1250 in 2010 and it was worth every cent of that, in my opinion. This has the right color and the right contrast, unique to this mine!