$300Median
117Sold (12 mo)
$600Last sale
Vanadinite
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Vanadinite, 28 cm, from the Old Yuma mine, Tucson Mountains, Pima County, Arizona. The first recorded claim on the Old Yuma mine was filed in 1885, by C. C. Stephens, a Tucson city councilman. Originally it was worked as a gold mine; the gold was found suspended in blackish wulfenite crystals, but only about a tenth of an ounce of gold was contained per ton of ore. To make the meager ore profitable, molybdenum and lead had to be recovered as well. Beautiful red vanadinite was also abundant at the mine, and was recovered as an ore of vanadium. It was described in detail (along with wulfenite) by a University of Arizona professor named Frank Nelson Guild (1870–1939) in 1911, bringing the locality some international recognition. By 1916 a mill had been constructed at the mine to process up to 100 tons of wulfenite and vanadinite ore per day. The mine yielded specimens regularly over the years, and was considered the source of the world’s best vanadinite specimens until the Moroccan material came on the market in the 1970s.
Product details
SpeciesVanadinite
SizeLarge Cabinet
Dimensions28.0 cm
Added on02/13/2026
Publications
- Mineralogical Record Mineral Collection University Of Delaware page 47
Previous owners
| Date | Collector | Acquisition price |
|---|---|---|
| — | C. C. Stephens | Not disclosed |
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