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Willemite

Unknown Owner
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This is a HUGE, incredibly intact, 855-gram SINGLE CRYSTAL of willemite! It is a very old specimen, certainly from the 1800s. The crystal is complete all around, fully terminated, and just...BIG! It has several old labels, the first in old script from an unknown collector, and the second being a display label from the early days of the Seaman Museum collection in Michigan. It was exchanged out at some point, and ended up in the noted Franklin collection of George Elling, from whom I exchanged it myself recently. A third label with the specimen notes that it came originally from the collection of Washington Roebling, but I have no proof of that (yet). I have never seen the likes of this kind of a willemite, for sale, and we both consider it a major US classic.

Product details

SpeciesWillemite
SizeCabinet
Dimensions10.8 x 8.8 x 5.9 cm
Added on10/23/2024
LocalityUSA, New Jersey, Sterling Hill Mine

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
08/2024Unknown OwnerNot disclosed
—The ArkenstoneNot disclosed

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Willemite
Mineral guide
Learn about Willemite
fluorescent zinc silicate with UV glow; daylight colors range from colorless to pistachio, iconic from Franklin–Sterling Hill and Tsumeb.
Willemite
Regional guide
Willemite from Sterling Hill Mine, New Jersey, USA
Sterling Hill willemite is one of the classic collector materials of American mineralogy: a zinc silicate, Zn2SiO4, that can look modest in daylight and then turn electric green under ultraviolet light. In the best pieces, tan to reddish-brown willemite crystals sit in white calcite with black franklinite and, less commonly, red zincite—an ore assemblage so distinctive that even small fragments announce the Franklin-Ogdensburg district at a glance. The daylight palette is earthy and old-mine: mahogany, brick red, honey brown, buff, white, and black. Under shortwave UV, however, willemite becomes the bright green signal in the rock, while calcite may burn red to orange-red and franklinite stays dark.
    Willemite - Sterling Hill Mine, New Jersey, USA