Datolite

Unknown Owner

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This is from a National Park and no collecting is allowed TODAY, making it probably one of the few pieces out there in private hands. This is 1069 grams (2.4 pounds or so) of solid, carving-quality material of classic pearl-white datolite from upper Michigan. I have not seen such big chunks around, from other mines I am more familiar with. One imagines most of it was carved or ground up for industrial use. From the noted Clarence S. Bement (1843-1923) Collection. Given the early accession number, and the future fate of his collection going to the AMNH in the 1900s, this was certainly obtained from him personally before his death and the purchase (followed by donation elsewhere) of the rest of his collection by financier JP Morgan. NOTE THIS IS A HANDWRITTEN LABEL In BEMENT'S OWN HAND (as compared to labels shown in the Mineralogical Record label archive: click here