Wulfenite - TN from Ed Over, 1938: Museum poster piece, Ex. Bill Panczner

Item Description

This specimen is part of the 2020 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, August 24, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

  A significant USA thumbnail specimen from the most important and famous -- dare we say legendary -- pocket....the Ed Over Pocket of 1938. Firstly, this is a sharp, gemmy, vibrantly colored Red Cloud wulfenite of the BEST color ever found, collected by Ed Over in 1938 from the famous "Ed Over pocket" that went to the Smithsonian and other major museums. As a bonus, it also was the prize wulfenite thumbnail in the collection of Bill Panczner, author of the book Minerals of Mexico and a longtime thumbnail exhibitor since the 1960s (the collection won Nationals in 1969). When Bill was appointed curator at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, he started a sale for deaccessions and duplicates from the museum's collections and field trips. This piece, from his and his wife's own collection at the time, was featured on the poster for that opening sale in the 1960s. Bill (now in his early 80s) wrote me: Rob, the poster photograph I sent you was made by the Museum's printing company and were only 24 made. It was about 12" x 18" in size and was put in several of the store windows, the university, and at the chamber office. The only copy I have which just came back to me after Sharon's passing was in storage and has undergone a color shift due to the heat in storage.

  Bill retired as curator of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in about 1980 and moved away from Tucson, and this award-winning thumbnail collection has not been seen in 40 years since (it was recently purchased by Arkenstone - stay tuned for more!).
   

There is quite a story to the specimen, which follows in his own words, "This wulfenite specimen has a lot of history!!! It was in the collection of Smithsonian and was collected in 1938 by Ed Over and went into the Art Montgomery collection, which is how Smithsonian got the specimen. When Susie Davis sold and traded her collection to the Smithsonian, she got this wulfenite for her thumbnail collection. She later gave it to my wife Sharon who was working for her (and collected thumbnails) as a gift!!! I used it in the first post for the Mineral Sales for the Desert Museum. A fantastic thumbnail, with great provenance."
Donated by Arkenstone, Photos by Jingnan Zhang.