Goethite (fine quality) "cast" after Calcite(?)

Dreamtime Mine, Crystal Peak area, Teller County, Colorado
Toenail, 3.4 x 2.6 x 1.2 cm
Start Time: 06/15/2017 6:45:00 pm (CDT)
End Time: 06/22/2017 6:45:00 pm (CDT)
Auction Closed

Item Description

This is a fine specimen little from one of the most storied and well known districts in Colorado. The pegmatites near the Lake George area of Colorado have produced what most collectors and dealers consider to be the finest Amazonite specimens from the standpoint of superb color, top quality, wonderful display specimens and excellent associations. This particular specimen has no Amazonite, but it is a wonderful display piece featuring sharp, lustrous, golden-black to almost reddish "blades" Goethite forming a beautiful crystallized group. The reverse side of the specimen reveals that this is actually a "cast" which has perfectly preserve the shape of what I believe could be a scalenohedral crystal of Calcite(?). I've never seen a Calcite crystal from this area, but it truly doesn't look like the typical rhombic-shaped crystals of Siderite, nor does it have the shape of a Quartz crystal. I don't honestly know if it's Calcite, or an oddly-shaped Siderite crystal, but it's distinct sand sharp, so it's very easy to see the detail. For the size, quality and aesthetics, this piece is a fantastic Goethite that would fit nicely into any collection. Crystallized specimens like this are few and far between from Colorado, or almost anywhere else in the world. This might be a "black rock" but these Goethites are some of the finest crystallized examples of the species extant! It should be noted that this mineral was named after the famous German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the correct pronunciation of the species is GER-tite (with a hard "g" like gold).

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