Linarite

Unknown Owner

Blanchard mine at Bingham, Hansonburg District, Socorro Co., New Mexico is one of the best known Linarite producing mines in North America. This miniature specimen from Sunshine No. 1 adit, features a sensational 6.5 mm long freestanding, perfect, deep blue, glassy, monoclinic Linarite crystal within a 1.5 x 1.5 cm cavity lined with smaller gemmy crystals. The matrix is Quartz veinstone with spots of Galena. The specimen comes from the collection of Dr Eduard Lopatka in Eichberg, Austria, prior to which it was owned by Dr Hans-Jurgen Wilke (1925-2014) in Germany. Wilke's notecard with the specimen shows that he acquired it in 1980 from El Paso, Texas. This is a really rather fine Linarite specimen.