Realgar (ex Franceso Bedogne Collection)

Item Description

A hard to find matrix specimen of the beloved and elusive specimens of Realgar from the Royal Reward Mine in Washington. The label accompanying the piece is somewhat incorrect as it was labeled from the "King Mine, Reward, Washington", when it's actually the Royal Reward Mine in King County, Washington. With that said, it's one of the best miniatures of the material that I've seen, and these have to be some of the finest crystals of Realgar from anywhere in North America outside of the Getchell Mine in Nevada. A predominant, sharp, lustrous, bright cherry red color, 1.3 cm prismatic crystal of Realgar is associated with smaller Realgars on host rock matrix. The color, luster and gemminess are very good, and the main crystal doubly-terminated and undamaged as far as I can see with the naked eye. Great quality and very hard to find on the market. These specimens came out in the 1940s-1950s and you can only find them in old collections. From the worldwide collection of famed Italian mineral collector, field collector and author, Francesco Bedogne of Sondrio, Italy (Collection #32). Bedogne wrote dozens of articles and several books about the mineralogy of Italian Alpine localities such as Val Bregaglia, Val Masino, Val Codera, Val Spluga, Valtellina and the famous Val Malenco. He was also the founder of the Valtellinese Mineralogical Institute.