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Specimens from the
DR. EDWARD E. DAVID, JR.
COLLECTION
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At shows, Ed is very low-key and modest, jovial and relaxed, easily recognizable in his patchwork multicolored trousers. Most of us didn't really have a full understanding what he does in real life (welcome to the internet research age, Ed!) - at least, I did not as a young dealer coming up in the mineral world and meeting him in a dingy back-of-the-hotel room in 1992. He was intimidating enough all on his own presence. In the real world, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr. was Executive Director of Research at Bell Telephone Labs from 1950 to 1970. Dr. David was Science Advisor to President Nixon and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology from 1970 to 1973 (see the fascinating link here: Politics, Apollo, Ed David and Richard Nixon .
Dr. David was President of Exxon Research and Engineering 1977 to 1986. He is a past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was the U.S. representative to the NATO Science Committee for 16 years. In 1993 he sold a large portion of what he fondly calls his "first collection" to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where it forms the core of a major hall. He culled the remainder til his cases were nearly bare, and started building the current collection over the last decade - which now overflows the house again. SOMEHOW, with all these silly distractions above, he managed to build not one, but TWO world-class collections! But...this one is available to the rest of us.
Ed is, for me, one of those customers and friends who will always leave a mark on my life. It is truly surreal that I am handling his collection for him, as it is an honor I never expected in any way , shape, or form. I met Ed around 1992 at Tucson when he showed up at my hotel room door and pounded on it at around 10pm at night. The room was literally the butt-end, least senior placement in the Executive Inn, which even at the time was already moderately rat-infested; in which I and some friends were sleeping in sleeping bags to save floor-space for the tables with all the valuable minerals we needed to put out for sale. So he bangs on the door, and I open it, and this total stranger just looks at me seriously and says quite calmly but with that "tone" behind it "you have a rock that was supposed to go to me, and I want it back. What ought we to do about it?" How do you react to that but to argue a bit?! He then introduced himself, suggested we negotiate once I could see how ugly it was again, and we turned on the lights and went looking for it. It was admittedly the ugliest good rock sold at the main show on setup day: a huge Franklin rhodonite, which i still remember. It had apparently been sold to me by accident (truly!) by another dealer. Ed had set it back, and then run off to give a keynote speech at some conference in another city, and the dealer had innocently thought he left the show without deciding to take it. I then muddled along to the show and spent every cent I had on the piece, forsaking others. Ed generously gave me a 20% profit (HUGE money for me at the time on a good piece!), took the bowling-ball sized rock, wrapped it in the first newspaper he saw laying around, and took off with it under his arm after staying to talk a bit; and ask what the hell I was doing at the show instead of properly attending my undergrad science courses at Rice University back in Houston (um...i called in sick that week?). Later, Ed became my best customer in the early 90's whenever he was in a town where I was going to school; routinely buying what I thought were pretty expensive rarities I spent my time scrounging up (all now worth more! happy to have them back!). Poor Ed had to travel into dormitories in Houston and San Diego which he probably would rather have avoided - during which he "accidentally missed" a number of honorary dinners, as I recall. Through my years in grad school, he encouraged me to finish despite the mineral distractions abuilding; through all the years building the website which many thought would be a big flop, he supported me; and then since my decision to go fulltime as a mineral dealer he has counseled me and helped with his friendship and patronage. I must admit that Ed's nagging was really a big push in encouraging me to finish my own graduate work BEFORE becoming a fulltime mineral dealer, and he kindly(?) jangled a few alternate opportunities my way to be darned sure I was determined to do this mineral-dealing thing right or not at all.
Just to be clear, Ed is alive and well. At only 82 years old now, I am sure he is stashing away new minerals for a 3rd collection...
Some Sold specimens follow, by way of a teaser....Please go to other pages for available specimens.
OVER 500 SPECIMENS REMAINING FROM THIS COLLECTION FOR SALE, SO STAY TUNED, OR SEE US AT SHOWS TO SEE MORE!
EDD6a - Wulfenite
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
Ahumada Mine, Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico
Small Cabinet, 8.9 x 7.3 x 3.9 cm
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This piece is literally "juicy", an adjective I do not use often! It looks edible, and is so lustrous and bright , it looks fake. The truly great LL wulfesnites have this high, waxy lustre that distinguishes them from , in my mind, all others . This piece is handsized, 3-dimensional, and totally pristine! It has a rich color bordering on orange-red, a little deeper in hue than most from the locality. It is also VERY unusual to get a piece that is so 3-dimensional and solidly made of wulfenite, as opposed to the typical style where they are perched on matrix. Ed had one of th emost interesting suites of these I have seen!
EDD5 - Aegirine with Quartz
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
Ex Joe Freilich Collection
Mount Malosa, Zomba, Malawi
CABINET, 10.5 x 6.6 x 2.9 cm
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A unique example of aegerine made so dramatic by the presence of this sharp, floater shard of quartz! It IS a floater, terminated all around. The aegerine itself is superb on its own merit, too!
EDD9 - Luanheite
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
Elisa de Bordos Mine, near Copiapo, Chile
CABINET, 10.7 x 7.5 x 0.7 cm
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From Ed's own catalogue entrey, this one took me by surprise!: Large crystallized dendritic fan * * Elisa de Bordos Mine near Copiapo * * * Chile * * May 25 2001 * Ed Huskinson * Found 1985 by Matthias Jurgeit ;said to be the finest ever found!
EDD10 - Copper Native Crystals with Copper Inclusions Grouped on Copper Crystal
ex. Robert Hesse, Robert Gage (circa 1900), Dr. Edward E. David Collection (twice!)
Quincy Mine, Hancock, Houghton Co., Michigan
CABINET, 18.8 x 13.4 x 6.9 cm
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This is an incredible, important, matrix copper-calcite specimen from the late 1800s. It is classic material, but seldom do we see such aesthetically fine, and matrix, specimens! The crystals are lustrous, gemmy, and pristine! The cluster measures 3.5 inches across, with crystals to 2 inches (and doubly-terminated). The matrix is a heavy mix of copper wires infusing and penetrating a basalt, and in fact the basalt is probably held together by the rich network of the copper. According to Ed, he owned this copper some 15 years ago, sold it, and it went to Larry Conklin for his own personal collection, from whom Ed bought it back in due time. It was formerly in the collection of Robert Hesse and ROBERT B. GAGE , dating it back to the heyday of Michigan mining (sadly, though, no labels have survived with the specimen from the Gage era, although the history is noted on the Conklin label). Robert B. Gage (1875-1946) of Trenton, New Jersey, worked as a chemist for the New Jersey State Highway Commission and was a key individual in the collecting and identification of minerals, particularly from Franklin, New Jersey. The mineral Gageite was named after him. Gage frequently corresponded with Washington Roebling, Frederick Canfield and other important collectors in the early part of the 20th century. Gage supplied these collectors with minerals from Franklin, New Jersey.
EDD1 - Copper Crystals
ex. Vladimir Pelipenko , Dr. Edward E. David Collections
Mine #57, East Dzhezkazgan Mining Area, Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan
LARGE CABINET, 30.3 x 5.9 x 1.1 cm
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A remarkable, HUGE copper specimen of solid crystals, from one of the most important copper localities of the century. Probably, though, it was mined even earlier. It came out of the noteed collection of Vladimir Pelipenko in 1999 through Star van Scriver to Ed.
EDD3 - Cuprite with Malachite
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
Onganja, Namibia
Miniature, 3.8 x 3.5 x 3.2 cm
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An incredibly weird and unique specimen, like no other I have seen from Onganja. The crystal is wonderfully 3-dimensional and complete all around! I have seen small hoppered cuprites, to be sure, from a number of localities. But, in this size, the habit seems quite uncommon
EDD11 - Silver "Medusa"
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
Himmelfurst Mine, Freiberg, Saxony, Germany
Small Cabinet, 8.8 x 5.7 x 3.8 cm
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They call this one "the medusa" for obvious reasons! This is an oustanding, massive, terribly dramatic example of the classic old European silvers which made Saxony so wealthy! This speicmen was sold to Ed in the early 1990s, and actually sold with part of his previous collection. He got it back later! It is pristine and complete all around and consists of THICK ropes and wires around a central core of native arsenic and silver ore
EDD12 - Morganite on Cleavelandite
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
White Queen Mine, San Diego County, California
CABINET, 13 x 12 x 9.4 cm
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This is a MAJOR specimen which Ed purchased directly out of a prominent California collection years ago. It has a morganite of the quality and brightness to rival Afghani material coming out today, although these are distinct upon close inspection. Few pockets of the San Diego material have the sheer COLOR and thus the impact of this specimen and its ilk from this one unique pocket (circa 1960s), where they formed embedded in this thick albite matrix. I have seen only 3 specimens from this pocket over the years, and all have the same brightness and color that make them, to my eyes, the top San Diego morganite find to date. This crystal is huge, measuring in at about 3 x 3 inches. It is so gemmy you can look into it and through most of it to the underlaying matrix blades. The placement of the crystal is such that it shows off both the sharp hexagonal form (without modifications to skew the sharp natural symmetry, as with so many other White Queen morganites) AND the gemminess of the crystal itself. The crystal is actually complete on the backside, and doubly-terminated - the back is exposed and sticking out the other side of the matrix! This allows even more light to transmit through the crystal itself, making it "glow" nicely in a showcase. This specimen came from Ed at about twice the size and was artfully trimmed down .
Tanzanite
ex. Dr. Edward E. David Collection
Merelani Mines, Arusha, Tanzania
Miniature, 3.3 x 3.1 x 1.5 cm
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A specimen of surpassing quality, with both gemminess and GEM VALUE going for it. This is a NATURAL tanzanite without having been heated to enhance the blues at the expense of the red hue. This piece is the most strongly trichroic tanzanite crystal I have ever had to offer. It glows with rich colors: blue, purple, and particularly red/maroon along the c-axis. The pictures only approximate the intensity. Moreover, it is a super-sharp, fully terminated crystal of the highest quality in terms of sharpness of form and fine termination. It has lustre like glass. this is a KILLER and of such quality that it is a miracle it was not cut for facet rough (certainly , though, it could be). This is the finest tanzanite I am aware of that is currently on the open market - I have seen 3 larger and more expensive (one heated, among them), but this is the finest in overall quality. He told me at the time that he had gotten this by request, upon asking Bryan Leees to find him the best possible miniature at the time (mid-1990s).
PYROMORPHITE
ex. Bryce Wright (1840s)
ex. Thomas Brown to Edinburgh Museum
exchanged out in the early 1980s
ex. Ralph Sutcliffe, Lindsay Greenbank, Dr. Edward E. David Collections
Roughton Gill Mine, Cumberland, England
CABINET, 14 x 7.5 x 6 cm
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This important specimen graces the cover of the MATRIX issue devoted to recounting the history of famous mineral dealer Bryce Wright, one of the most noted suppliers of the British Museum and of private collectors of the early to mid 1800s. It is also featured in a fullpage photograph in MINERALS OF THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT: CALDBECK FELLS, page 74: "One of the finest known...collected circa 1840-1850" . It is notable not only for the size, but for the quality, lustre, and rich color of the crystals -- QUALITY AND QUANTITY, here! The piece is nearly pristine, and it is complete all around all edges and periphery. It is even complete, though concave, on the backside. I am told by everybody who has seen it , from the curator at the BMNH and multiple mineral dealers well acquianted with the collections in England, that this is certainly the finest known surviving pyromorphite form this important locality. To me, this was always the most historically romantic piece in Ed's collection. As well, there are many minerals you can buy in the low six figure range that, for all the price, simply are not so impactful and important in the scheme of history (even 100k sitll doesn't buy you the BEST tourmalines or golds, after all); an dyet here you get a specimen i truly feel is priceless in that it is both significant and likely unrepeatable in history for a specimen from this part of the world. I am proud to say that it will next reside in the collection of my friend and Dallas collector, Wally Mann. Someday, to be frank, I hope to own it again and I intend to keep it as a momento.
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