Boulangerite with Marcasite (?) (read description) (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Emperius Mine, Creede District, Mineral County, Colorado
Small Cabinet, 9.3 x 5.7 x 2.7 cm
Start Time: 04/20/2017 6:45:00 pm (CDT)
End Time: 04/27/2017 6:46:33 pm (CDT)
Auction Closed

Item Description

This is a strange one. This specimen comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). The piece comes with a typed label from Wulff on one of his famous 3x5 index cards which states that consists of Boulangerite, Marcasite and Pyrrhotite, and that it's from the "Impervious Mine" in Creede, (almost certainly the Emperius Mine), but the problem is that Boulangerite (or any other acicular sulfide / sulfosalt) is reported from this locality (or anywhere else in Mineral County). Neither is Marcasite or Pyrrhotite for that matter. The label also says that the piece was purchased from Chris Christensen, but I cannot confirm the validity of the species or the locality. Perhaps it's from a small unreported discovery at the Emperius Mine, or perhaps it's completely mislabeled. This is one is going to require a bit of research from whomever wins it, because it's a fairly good sized mystery. Please note that we are not endorsing the label or the locality, we're simply the messengers on this one, so please keep that in mind when bidding.

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