Goethite with "Onegite" on Smoky Quartz (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

This is a great association specimen 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 "needles" of Goethite forming beautiful crystallized "sprays" which are associated with minor crystals of "Onegite" (Quartz / Amethyst with Goethite inclusions) sitting atop a compressed crystal of Smoky Quartz. For the size, quality and aesthetics, this piece is a fantastic Goethite association piece that would fit nicely into any collection. 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 which states that it was obtained from Florissant Gems & Minerals - Jerry and Thelma Hurianek for $35 back in the day. It's worth considerably more today based upon the scarcity of the material and the fact that this is GOOD quality CRYSTALLIZED Goethite, not only from Colorado, but anywhere in the world. 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).