Deaccessions from the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences

For more information on the amazing history of the collections of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences assembled between 1812 and the 1950's: please see The Mineralogical Record site's label and history archives.

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PAS-42 - Zunyite - $ 400
Silver City, Tintic District, East Tintic Mts, Juab County, Utah, USA
miniature, 5.5 x 5 x 3.5 cm

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This strange silicate forms pyramid-shaped crystals that are sharp and unusual. Usually the species is gray to white in color from other locales but here show with brown-red color. This specimen is one of several obtained by breaking open a single larger vug donated to the museum in the early 1900s, and features many sharp crystals to 3 mm on all sides of the specimen. We obtained 2 specimens with 2 labels, as shown here and on item #44

PAS-121 - Atacamite - $ 1200
Collahuasi Mine, Collahuasi district, Iquique Province, Tarapac� Region, Chile (TYPE LOCALITY)
small cabinet, 6.4 x 5.2 x 3.8 cm

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This is a complexly intergrown mass of crystallized atacamite, in huge crystals unlike any I have seen from Chile. It is 100% crystals, some damaged and contacted, and some not. I have never myself seen another specimen from this remote copper mine located 170 km SE of Iquique. Discovered over 200 years ago and sent back to Europe for study, atacamite was named from this region's specimens. NOTE that this is thought to be the specific mine locality for the species (though usually the type locality is given simply as "in the Atacama Desert"...see IMA list of type specimen locations).

PAS-93 - Galena - $ 1800
Galena, Jo Daviess County, Ilinois
cabinet, 11.2 x 10.4 x 7.5 cm

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A hand-sized, SHARP galena crystal of some significance because it is from the old lead district in northern Illinois, predating the discovery of the more abundant Missouri lead belt. Valid, antique crystals of galena from Galena are super-rare and this is not only a valid one, but a huge crystal in good condition for the locality. This composite crystal , consisting of a smaller cube in the back merging into this beautiful cuboctohedron, weighs 9 pounds. It is mostly complete on the back, as well. I have not brightened it chemically by cleaning it, to preserve the antique look.

PAS-19 - Brackebuschite - $ 350
Venus Mine, Sierra de Cordoba, Argentina (TYPE LOCALITY)
small cabinet, 6.5 x 4.0 x 2.2 cm

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A specimen with microcrystals of Brackebuschite, from the type locality! These were found as far back as the 1880s and named after a prominent Argentine mineralogist. According to MINDAT: A rare secondary mineral occurring in the oxidized zones of hydrothermal Pb-Zn deposits. From the noted collection of William Drown, whom according to the Mineralogical Record Archive on him was an umbrella manufacturer who used his fortune to amass a collection of some 6000 mineral specimens. His collection was kept by his family for a generation after his death and then donated in 1918 . There is a lot of descloizite in the material from here. The brackebuschite is in clusters of almost acicular xls, very minute. Quite rare, and this would be cheap if the material is good (of which I am admittedly no judge)

PAS-35 - Brackebuschite - $ 250
Venus Mine, Sierra de Cordoba, Argentina (TYPE LOCALITY)
miniature, 3.8 x 3.4 x 2.6 cm

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PAS-183 - Wavellite - $ 2000
Siglo Veinte Mine, Llallagua, Bustillos Province, Potos� Department, Bolivia
large cabinet, 20.7 x 15.5 x 10.8 cm

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This is a bizarre columnar wavellite specimen with "sheets" of wavellite, as if frozen in mid-flow like a cave formation of aragonite or calcite might be. Although not pristine (there are some damaged spots), it is dramatic and quite displayable. It is also the biggest such specimen of wavellite I have seen. According to museum records and the number on the back of the piece (19584), this dates to the time period as the Vaux expeditions of the 1920s and thus was most likely collected by Sam Gordon, then-curator, on one of the early Vaux expeditions (1st or 2nd)! You can see this dating jives with the PAS-184 dating on its label, noting Sam Gordon collected the specimen in 1921 (also then on the Vaux expeditions). Note the museum's own large format display card is as big as the specimen is, so it could sit atop of it.

PAS-38 - Gibbsite - $ 600
Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts (TYPE LOCALITY)
small cabinet, 7.1 x 6.6 x 2.6 cm

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TYPE LOCALITY - Gibbsite is an interesting aluminum hydroxide with very little heft to it, that otherwise tends to look like heavy smithsonite or hemimorphite at first glance. This is a large, showy specimen of gibbsite from the TYPE LOCALITY. According to MINDAT, this mineral was: named after Colonel George Gibbs (1777-1834), original owner of the Gibbs mineral collection acquired by Yale University early in the nineteenth century.

PAS-73c - Metavauxite - $ 200
Siglo Veinte Mine, Llallagua, Bustillos Province, Potos� Department, Bolivia (TYPE LOCALITY)
thumbnail, 1.9 x 1.4 x 1.1 cm

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Metavauxite is the rarest of the related vauxite family members: paravauxite; metavauxite; and vauxite. It is a monoclinic dimorph of the already rare paravauxite, with clearly different crystal habit when seen in person. This is an aesthetic cluster of sharp crystals, from the type locality - surely, given its history in this collection, collected before or close to the time it was being identified as a new species.

PAS-26 - Sphalerite - $ 200
Lane Traprock quarries, Westfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts, USA
large cabinet, 8.8 x 5.8 x 5.4 cm

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A sharp, lustrous, translucent sphalerite crystal with a golden-green hue to it, perched in classic Westfield matrix of quartz and prehnite. Sphalerite is rare for this locality and this is a beautiful specimen, as well.

PAS-167 - Chalcanthite - $ 3000
Braden Mine, El Teniente, Rancagua, Cachapoal Province, Chile
cabinet, 13.4 x 11.3 x 8.7 cm

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Maybe there are better, but I do not know of them. This is the largest and best crystallized natural chalcanthite that I have personally seen. It has a huge complete crystal of neon blue, sticking straight up from matrix. It is pristine, dramatic, glows when backlit, and is from an oldtime and romantic locality. Bottom line, though, it is just "pretty!" Chalcanthite is easily synthesized today and grown in labs all around the world for the gift shop and fake rock markets. Chalcanthite forms as postmining or manmade crystals from working copper mines such as in Arizona. It can be bought in the Smithsonian gift shop and grown from powder on the kitchen table. However, aside from the chance that this was postmining (and i do not think it was), my bet is they were not making these in labs and from gift shop chemistry sets back in the early 1900s in Chile. With as many copper mines as we have around, I have not seen any postmining chalcanthite formed from the runoff of human workings, that reaches this magnitude. So i find it unlikely this was formed in that manner, although its a slim outside chance. This is, surely then, natural as the museum itself concluded in the end: certainly one of the most dramatic examples of the species I can imagine. The wooden display label with it indicates exhibition in a case of trophies on return from one of the famous Vaux expeditions of the 1920s, apparently. Note another, clearly post-mining (but naturally made) American chalcanthite of substantial size in this update (PAS-178), as well.

PAS-120 - Vauxite - $ 900
Siglo Veinte Mine, Llallagua, Potosi Department, Bolivia (TYPE LOCALITY)
thumbnail, 2.6 x 1.9 x 1.6 cm

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This is a gorgeous, complete, pristine, 5.5-mm spray of intense blue vauxite crystals , perched on stannite, from the type locality for the vauxite species. These species (3 of them) are all named after the generous philanthropist who funded four Academy expeditions to South America in search of specimens for the museum. Although the specimen has no Vaux Expedition label, its numbering in the 20,000's indicates a time in the early 1900's when expedition specimens were being sent back to the museum. Small, but choice example of type locality vauxite, in its original habit now not seen inmodern specimens.

PAS-81 - Paravauxite - $ 1500
Siglo Veinte Mine (Siglo XX Mine; Llallagua Mine), Llallagua, Potos� Department, Bolivia (TYPE LOCALITY)
cabinet, 23.7 x 18.0 x 5.0 cm

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A rich plate with DOZENS of sharp, translucent, beautiful crystals running all over it, to 1.2 cm in length; and many of which are doubly-terminated. A vein of some white phosphate material runs through the middle. Despite its size, this plate, and the hundred-plus crystals on it, are largely unscathed. Coverage on the back is more sparse, but with larger crystals to 1.75 cm. The piece is quite displayworthy and comes with a nice original label. Almost certainly this was field-collected on one of the famous Vaux expeditions in the early 1900s. TYPE LOCALITY MATERIAL: Paravauxite was described in 1922 and so it is not a huge leap of faith to assume this specimen and others in the Academy collections came from some of the same sources at the same time as the type study material.

PAS-184 - Chalcanthite with Melanterite, Romerite - $ 1250
Cerro de Pasco, Pasco Department, Peru
large cabinet, 20.8 x 9.5 x 8.0 cm

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This is a bizarre columnar Chalcanthite specimen that is coated by a thin layer of the iron suphate romerite, through which nests of sharp, bladed melanterite crystals to 6mm in size poke out every which way on all sides. Although not pristine (there are some damaged spots), it is dramatic and impressively displayable. According to museum records and the number on the back of the piece (19977), this dates to the time period as the Vaux expeditions of the 1920s and thus was most likely collected by Sam Gordon, then-curator, on one of the early Vaux expeditions (1st or 2nd)! You can see this dating jives with the dating on the museum's own large format display label, noting Sam Gordon collected the specimen in 1921 (then on the Vaux expeditions).

PAS-75 - Erythrite - $ 750
La Blanco Mine (Blanca Mine), Freirina, Huasco Province, Atacama Region, Chile
small cabinet, 6.1 x 3.3 x 0.9 cm

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A beautiful, thin plate covered by sharp, metallic, acicular erythrite crystals. They sparkle in any light. According to MINDAT: La Blanco is a small Co-Cu deposit close to the town of Freirina; mined on a small scale in the 19th century (Ref.: Maurizio Dini). It is the most likely source for this specimen because a xerox of the original museum label (with specimen PAS-182a) gives "San Juan, Chili" as the locality, and because that label also states the presence of "Asbolite." Asbolite is a now-discredited name for a "cobaltian wad" of interlocking acicular erythrite crystals. According to MINDAT, this is the only documented old locality which produced both erythrite and "asbolite." We know that this specimen was given by Dr. Domeyko, who sent many study samples to the Academy during its heyday, which also coincided with his own heyday in studying the rare minerals of this part of the world.

PAS-68 - Barite - $ 800
Cheshire, New Haven Co., Connecticut, USA
cabinet, 12.1 x 11.2 x 2.6 cm

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An unusually robust single crystal of barite from this locality, with good gemminess and high lustre. It has not been cleaned, to preserve the antique look. It is cleaved on the sides (one side bearing the Vaux label, though!), and has a little damage to the top-left termination portion. However, it displays well , overall, and has great brightness to it. From the noted collection of William S. Vaux

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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com

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