Hessite on Quartz

Unknown Owner

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This is an incredibly rich hessite specimen with crystal sharpness, luster, and a surprisingly rich coverage o quartz that you almost never see for this rare species. It really is MUCH more showy than the average hessite (and even those are quite rare), which usually has gray lumps on a gray rock. The combination of the vertical stackign and the white quartz flanking the crystals makes these leap out 3-dimensionally, and as you can see the crystals are in excellent condition, not worn and abraded, despite their age. Most hessites of this style were found in the early to mid 1800s in this important mining district. The provenance here goes back to Julius Bohm, one of the most important of the early Viennese mineral dealers (in the late 1800s). Later it went to a collecttor named Tschermak and then to noted dealer Lazard Cahn, circa 1915, by his label. It was almost certainly mined earlier, however. At some time in the 1970s, it entered the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History on loan for a display exhibit, before finally finding rest in another Musuem (details to owner). I obtained this in trade from collector George Elling, recently. I think the price is extremely fair compared to specimens of far inferior quality, but larger in size, that I have seen from some old collections come up for sale in Munich recently.