Colusite pseudomorphs after Covellite (RARE locality specimen)

Item Description

A very hard to find pseudomorph of Colusite replacing Covellite from what is probably the East Colusa Mine (the type locality for Colusite). The piece features "rose"-shaped groups composed of hexagonal blades of what were formerly Covellite, now replaced by black Colusite sitting on Quartz matrix. Individual crystals measure up to about 1.0 cm. These are incredibly rare from Butte, and this is the only piece of this material that we've had to offer from the locality. More than just a cool Butte specimen, it's an excellent pseudomorph regardless of the locality. The piece has a long pedigree dating back to Peter Smith, at which point it was acquired by Denver mineral dealer, E. Mitchell ("Mitch") Gunnell in 1950, and later found its way to the pseudomorph collection of Ed Swoboda, who sold his collection to Jim Minette and Carter Rich in March of 1998. The piece then came into the collection of Richard Jackson though Dave Bunk and finally ended up in George's Butte suite.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 5951; 3313 MT.4 George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information