Vivianite (classic material)

Item Description

A wonderful example of Vivianite from the famed Morococala Mine in Bolivia. In the early 1980s, this mine produced some of the largest and most spectacular Vivianite specimens in Bolivian history. I was told stories that there were plates of crystals just pouring out of the mine for a brief period of time. Then, the mine manager decided that the miners were too distracted collecting Vivianite and not attending to their duties underground, so he decided to blow up the entire section of the mine where the Vivianite was being collected, thus greatly limiting the number of specimens that would make their way to the market. This piece is one of the last specimens to come out the Morococala during the "Vivianite Boom". It features a 1.7 cm lustrous, sharp, prismatic deep blue-green crystal of Vivianite sitting on a layer of distinctive iridescent Pyrite on matrix. The quality is very good for this locality, and the Vivianite shows good internal gemminess when backlit. These piece are no longer being mined and they are incredibly difficult to find on the market today.
From the collection of legendary Colorado miner, Dave Bergman. Dave is now retired, but mined all over Colorado and was most famously the former the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".