The Hall of Fame
Over the years many great mineral specimens have come into
our hands. These specimens now reside in
top collections, both museum and private, all over the
world. Sometimes certain pieces just seem to leave an
impression in one's mind. Although these specimens are no
longer around, we wanted to show some examples of certain
species when they reach what is considered a standard of
excellence for what they are.
FLUORAPOPHYLLITE
with Stilbite
Locality: Jalgaon, India
Specimen Size: 6 x 5 cm.
VAUXITE
Locality: Siglo XX mine, Llallagua, Bustillo Province, Potosí Department, Bolivia
Specimen Size: 22.5 cm. across
QUARTZ
(Japan-law
twin)
Locality: Chicote Grande mine, La Paz, Bolivia
Specimen Size: 12.5 cm. across
MIMETITE
Locality: Tsumeb mine, Otjikoto Region, Namibia
Specimen Size: 5 cm. across
SMITHSONITE
Locality: Berg Aukas Mine, Grootfontein, Namibia
Specimen Size: 5 cm. across
LUDLOCKITE
Locality: Tsumeb mine, Otjikoto Region, Namibia
Specimen Size: approximately 4 cm. across
EUCLASE
Locality: Gachalá, Guavió-Guatéque Mining District, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Specimen Size: 2 x 2 x 2 cm.
Richard Kosnar Photo |
Copyright The Mineralogical Record
and Harold and Erica van Pelt |
Copyright Lithographie
and Jesse La Plante |
FRANCKEITE
The finest known example of Franckeite extant. This specimen has been a part of several of the
world's finest collections over the years (Neely, Freilich, Massague). Out of the literally thousands of
pieces of this mineral that we have handled over the years, it still stands out in my mind as one of my
most favorite Bolivian mineral specimens in the world. This piece was pictured in The Mineralogical Record
(January-February 2000, page 31) and Lithographie's Bolivia - The Height of Mineral Collecting (2009, page 29).
Locality: San Jose mine, Oruro City, Cercado Province, Oruro Department, Bolivia
Specimen Size: approximately 10 cm. tall
APATITE on
Cookeite
Locality: Pulsifer Quarry, Auburn, Maine
Specimen Size: 9 x 7.5 cm. (Crystal size: 3.2 x 2 cm.)
SILVER
Locality: Kongsberg, Norway
Specimen Size: 15 x 10 cm.
Brian Kosnar Photo |
Copyright The Mineralogical Record
and Joe Budd |
BOURNONITE
The finest Bournonite specimen that we purchased in the lot from 2008. The incredible beveled faces, stunning
luster and overall dramatic appeal of the piece makes it not only one of the best Bolivian Bournonites we have
seen, but one of the best Bournonites we have handled hands down. The specimen graced the cover of the Mineralogical Record
(May-June 2009) shortly after we sold it.
Locality: Viboras section (vein), Machacamarca Mine, Colavi District, Potosí Department, Bolivia
Specimen Size: approximately 5 cm. tall
Brian Kosnar Photo |
Copyright The Mineralogical Record
and Jeff Scovil |
FLUORITE
Fluorite from France is one of the great treasures of Alpine Minerals. These are the only true red Alpine Fluorites
that I have seen, and this piece is certainly one of the finest miniatures we have handled. The large, sharp,
very gemmy, striated octahedral crystal has a vibrant red color with a distinct purple hue at the tips ! The crystal
gracefully sits atop a contrasting matrix of white Albite crystals. This specimen was featured on the cover of
the Mineralogical Record (September-October 2008).
Locality: Point Kurz, Mt Blanc Massif, Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France
Specimen Size: approximately 5 cm. tall
PHOSPHOPHYLLITE
(The Great
Phosphophyllite) on Arsenopyrite
Locality: Unificada mine, Cerro Rico, Potosi, Dept. Potosi,
Bolivia
Specimen Size: 15 x 11 cm. (Crystal size: 13 cm.)
Most mineral collectors, dealers and museum curators consider this piece to be
the best individual mineral specimen in the world. Richard A. Kosnar is
personally responsible for bringing this specimen into the United States. The picture
below was
taken on September 15, 1977 the very day that this specimen
arrived at Kosnar's house in Colorado from Bolivia. This is
also how the specimen looked before it received any cleaning
or restoration. A few years ago, this specimen was pictured
on the cover of the Mineralogical Record and the
ensuing article was one of the most fun articles for
dealers, collectors, curators and anyone interested in the
world of minerals. Here is a summarization of the story of
how The Great Phosphophyllite came into this
country from Richard Kosnar's own account. Enjoy....
Richard A. Kosnar holding The Great Phosphophyllite
at his home in Boulder, Colorado in September 1977 |
The Great Phosphophyllite Story
(as told by Richard Kosnar circa 1998)
"In July 1977, I received a letter (in Spanish) and
snapshots of a matrix Phosphophyllite. I called my partner
in La Paz and he drove to Sucre (the real capital of Bolivia
according to my partner) to see the specimen. It belonged
to a mining engineer named Urquidi who had worked at
Unificada for many years. My partner called me several days
later, but I was not at home in Boulder, primarily because I
was working the Sweet Home mine in Alma that summer. My
partner really didn't have a clue about the value of this
crystal which was a full 13 cm. long and on matrix ! He
knew it was a very dramatic specimen and that it was
obviously worth a lot of money, so he told Urquidi to hold
the piece until he contacted me. As it turned out, Urquidi
was selling his pride and joy to raise enough money to
become a full partner in a small ceramic tile factory.
Still unable to reach me, my partner decided to go ahead and
buy the piece on his own.
The following weekend I finally got a call from my partner
in Bolivia who said, I'm flying to Denver tomorrow and I'm
bringing the Phosphophyllite ! He arrived at the airport
with the piece and the first thing I did when we got it to
my house was to put a shortwave light on it. The bloody
thing lit up like a Christmas tree ! It looked like a
tic-tac-toe grid ! My partners friend in Denver had come
over to see the piece and having some knowledge of mineral
specimens immediately blurted out, Christ, I hope you can
get your money back ! The specimen was actually 7 pieces
including the matrix - crudely glued back together. I took
a few snapshots of the piece the way it arrived that day
with my business card in the foreground as a scale. This
all took place on September 15, 1977. Needless to say, I
decided to keep the specimen which I later sold to Dave
Wilber in November 1978, and he put it on display at the
Tucson Show in February 1979. He later sold the piece to
Yampol.
The Famous Phosphophyllite was mined by Urquidi in 1962.
Having been the mining engineer from 1956 through 1964,
Urquidi stated that the best of the Phosphophyllites came
out from the early pockets found in 1957, and of course, the
largest and most spectacular crystals came out in 1962, and
some decent pockets were found right up until 1964, when the
famous Phosphophyllite stope was closed off with a concrete
bulkhead by COMIBOL to prevent any further collecting in
that area of the mine. Contrary to various stories Ive
heard in this country about the closure of the mine, the
fact of the matter was that the temperature in the
Phosphophyllite stopes had become very high and due to the
fact that there was absolutely no ventilation raises in this
dead-end drift, bad air i.e., poisonous gases had
accumulated and had killed several miners over the years.
Urquidis description of the pocket that was opened which
contained the Great Phosphophyllite still burns in my
memory and haunts me even to this day. He said that when he
and the miners got back to the stope after the blast, the
entire floor of the drift was completely covered with broken
Phosphophyllite. He said that it looked as if someone had
broken hundreds of glass bottles back in the stope! It
literally took a few days for the miners to scoop-up all
of the broken pieces and T/Ns. I once purchased a plastic
bag full of gem twinned Phosphophyllite crystals ranging in
size from 2 to 2.5 cm.
Since 1979, a number of attempts have been made to reopen
the mine. Several by me and my partner, as well as a few
more mining companies from Australia, Canada and even
Bolivia. The Bolivian government has been quite adamant
about the fact that the mine is much too dangerous to reopen
and operate, and this is in a country that puts next to no
value on human life !!"
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