Stephanite (circa 1800s)

Unknown Owner

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A spectacular specimen of impeccable quality from an old find with history from both of the two largest and most valuable thumbnail collections that have come to market in the 2000s, to date. This was from the well known Minette collection and many of us considered it one of his top 20 pieces in a collection of over 1000 thumbnails. This was found in the 1800s and represents the finest quality possible in an old german stephanite for form and luster. It is a full size competitive quality specimen. It was later Alex Schauss' first choice when the Minette collection was broken up and sold in the early 2000s by Dave Bunk and Dan Weinrich. It was then an iconic piece in the Schauss collection for another 20 years, almost. We have Alex's notes on labels that were somehow lost in the transit between collections, but the history is widely known and was verified long ago. From: Dave Bunk (Dave Bunk Minerals, Denver, Colorado), September 15, 2006, with label and invoice, along with label marked: “K.K. naturh. Hofmus, Mineral.-petr. Abt. Nr. E.1178. XXIV. 1888”, with an even older label describing the specimen by the name “Silberglanz.” The K.K. label refers to the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. Also, Jim Minette index card (inventory #T0591) noted that he acquired it from Curt Van Scriver 12/1975, valued at $500/$600. Minette described the specimen as a “Superb spray like cluster bright prisms. He received the specimen through a trade along with the Bonn Museum label at the time (NOTE: This documentation is now from Alex's catalog notes, but the label folder has been lost somewhere in the last 20 years). Exhibited: One of the 35 displayed specimens that won the 2010 Paul Desautel Trophy for Best Mineral Case in Competition at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show. Illustrated: The Mineralogical Record, 2015; 46(3): 363. Ex. Brad van Scriver; Ex. Curt van Scriver; Ex. Dick Bideaux. Also, Recently featured in the book, Refined Elegance (Mineralogical Record, Nov. 2022) on page 127 (Scovil photo). Laszlo Kupi photo from another angle shown here.