Wulfenite (rare crystal habit)

Item Description

From the notable collection of Mexican Senator, Dr. Miguel Romero, the most important Mexican Collection assembled to date: Emplaced on a limonite matrix along with a thin crust of greenish mimetite are dozens of bi-pyramidal, lustrous, waxy wulfenite crystals to 1.0 cm in length. The crystals are akin to a porcupine's quills. As you can see there are only a few broken crystals, perhaps a dozen small ones out of the hundreds present, and it shows dramatically nonetheless. This is a very unusual crystal habit, historically and worldwide, for the species. Bipyramidal wulfenite in crystals of this size are not known from many locales (although recently Ojuela produced a number of them in slightly different aspect). This is a large, rich, and also aesthetic example that is the largest such specimen I have seen from the locality of any quality. This specimen was on loaned exhibit in the University of Arizona Museum for over a decade from the late 1990s until my purchase of this collection in 2008 from the family of Dr. Romero. It is valued at $2000-2500. It comes with custom lucite base already made for the specimen.