Amethyst (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

Brazilian Amethysts are among the most impressive, large, richly colored display specimens of the material in the world. Pieces from Rio Grande do Sul and various other Brazilian localities are beloved not only by collectors, but can be found in museums, galleries and even on the sets of Hollywood shows and movies. The beautiful color along with impressive crystallization makes for a great combo, especially considering that if you take away Amethyst, there are very few purple minerals in the world that occur in good sized display specimens. Fine, sharp, lustrous, well-formed, blocky, hexagonal crystals of medium purple color Amethyst cover the entire display side of this wonderful cabinet specimen. Looking closely, it appears that almost every crystal is damage free, save the periphery where it was removed from the pocket. There are a few nicks here and there, but it's amazingly good shape for the material. The color and luster really make the piece stand out in my mind. The largest crystal measures 2.1 cm. 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 stating that he purchased it from Pardo's Rocks and Minerals in Tucson, Arizona. Fine quality and better in person. This particular piece was simply labeled as coming from "Brazil", so we're leaving it at that. Valued at $700.