Colemanite with Pararealgar

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

This is a gorgeous specimen of colemanite with a unique lemon-yellow color caused by inclusions of pararealgar. It is unlike any other you have ever seen. A long line of prominent collectors of thumbnails have owned this truly unusual specimen, which looks like a yellow snow cone. It is almost impossible to guess, without seeing the label, what you are looking at - and that fact in itself makes this something interesting for any display thumbnail collection or competitive exhibit. It is always good to stump the viewer! Sadly, original labels do not remain now but we do know that Jim Houran bought it from Alex Schauss, who bought it from the Minette collection, and later passed it on to Kyle's collection when Kyle purchased his USA suite intact in a collecting coup that shocked a lot of us at the time (Jim had one of the best suites of USA origin thumbnails, piece for piece, and focused on such unusual items). Minette had the finest collection of borate minerals ever put together, and in particular a fine thumbnail suite.