Andradite Garnet, Sphalerite with Galena

Item Description

This item is part of a special benefit auction for the Rice Museum of Rocks & Minerals (ricenorthwestmuseum.org). Items are either deaccessions from the museum's collection or were donated by generous supporters listed below.

Auction open April 1, 2021 through April 17, 2021.

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, April 19, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

We do not see many minerals from Honduras, and this is an exceptional specimen from ANYwhere, for both the garnet and the sphalerite crystals. El Mochito mine is an underground zinc and silver mine in Honduras, active for over 70 years. Specimens come out only rarely, over those years. This is a large piece, one of the biggest I am aware of, with sharp sparkling garnets as the carpet on which you see incredibly complex, metallic sphalerite crystals. The largest sphalerite is 2.5 cm and it is festooned with gorgeous, gemmy, wine-red garnets! This is a special specimen, more impressive the more you look closely, whether it is from a rare locality or not. It needs to be mentioned that there is some periphery damage to sphalerites at the edge, but not to the major crystal. It should also be said that, the biggest crystal is nicely isolated and 3-dimensional so that with a judicious trim, one could pull out a stunning, world class miniature of sphalerite with garnet, isolating the big crystal to make a smaller, amazing display miniature out of the best crystal (it might be worth even more as a miniature to some people, than the whole specimen...different styles). In any case, a unique and beautiful specimen.