Wulfenite (Large Crystal) on Baryte - image 1

Wulfenite (Large Crystal) on Baryte - image 2

Wulfenite (Large Crystal) on Baryte

Unknown Owner

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If you only saw the photo, you would think this was a thumbnail specimen...rather, it features a 2.4-cm across and 6mm-thick wulfenite on classic Rowley matrix. This is the largest, fattest, crystal I have seen from here. It is an electric orange color, not orange-red as they usually are, and it has superb luster. This shockingly large crystal is unbelievable for Rowley and is perhaps the largest known for the mine (at least, according to Frank, to what I have seen, and to what a noted Arizona collector also told us). Frank traded it from a collector who found it in the 1960s, he recalls. It has a thin crack running diagonally at the lower, left edge of the crystal, but is not repaired - the surrounding Baryte anchors the crystal securely at multiple attachment points on the left, right sides, and with little blades reaching up behind the crystal to attach it solidly to the matrix. The Baryte itself is a little friable and has been stabilized lightly with glue behind the wulfenite, on only a small portion of the rear of the matrix where cracks exist (behind and to the right of the crystal). It is trimmed exceptionally well, to make a balanced, important miniature. Joe Budd Photos.