Colusite (rare)

Item Description

Colusite is a rare copper, vanadium, arsenic, tin, antimony, sulfosalt species, and it's not common to find good specimens on the market. It is rare to find well-developed crystals of Colusite from the famous mines at Butte. This specimen features reasonably well-formed dark silvery bronze colored modified crystals of Colusite measuring to about 1 mm scattered among white Quartz on matrix. A good overall example of these hard to find pieces from this classic locality in Butte. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#3785) (with an accompanying label stating the piece was originally in the collection of the great mineral dealer and collector, Ed Swoboda). This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.