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The Harold Urish Collection of Tucson, Arizona
ex. Harold Urish
A foliated mass of pearlescent pink mica, of a weird variety called margarite, is emplaced in a vug in schist: a rare calcium, aluminum silicate.
ex. Harold Urish
This is a VERY RARE hydrated lead, bismuth vanadate found in an oxide zone of a tungsten mine. This is the best and TYPE LOCALITY for the species. The bright, mustard yellow microcrystals crystals are emplaced in a wide vein in matrix. This specimen was self collected by Harold Urish and is an excellent example of this species.
ex. Harold Urish
I was completely floored to see this piece labelled as Morenci, and assumed it to be an error. However, on consulting with Arizona specialist and collector Les Presmyk (who the also became a partner in the collection, I need to admit), I was told the following: On Christmas Eve, this zone was discovered by one of the collectors working for Southwest Mineral Associates at the Morenci mine in Arizona. Anxious to get home to be with family on Christmas, four specimens were recovered with the expectation that he would be back in two days to finish collecting the zone. Unfortunately, mining of the orebody had continued unabated through the holiday and the zone was no longer there. This is the largest of the four specimens and until this collection was purchased, Les Presmyk thought there were in fact only three specimens - this one had "gotten away" and not been spoken of. The quality and aethetics of this pocket are unique due to the hard botryoidal malachite and the contrasting azurite strategically placed to accent the malachite. The malachite looks buffed, but it is entirely natural. This is the finest known ecxample of this type from Morenci, and would by most people be confused for a Bisbee piece. The difference is in the lustre (this is more lustrous than similarly formed Bisbee malachite) and in the subtle matrix association...but also if it were from Bisbee the price would be over $50,000 because of the relative premium attached to specimens from that mine. In other words, this is a MAJOR US specimen, that happens also to be a beautiful cabinet piece.
ex. Harold Urish
A MAJOR old Sinaloa smithsonite from the 1960s or 1970s, with unique satiny pastel lavender color that is characteristic of a very old find here . The piece is acually in wonderful condition, and complete ALL around! Displays beautifully on a custom lucite base.
ex. Harold Urish
A stunning large piece with unusually good aesthetics and high quality - rare in large specimens from this mine. A thin ridge of limestone is the matrix for a large cluster of splendent, dark brown sphalerite crystals with definite orange-red highlights. The largest crystals reach 3 cm in length and exhibit a spearlike form,quite dramatic and sharp. This is a very important specimen for this locality, because of its size and number of sphalerite crystals. Displays beautifully on a custom lucite base.
ex. Harold Urish
This beautiful and unusual specimen has a core of glassy and colorless gypsum crystals up to 1 cm in length. A druse of royal blue azurite, to .5 cm in length is on the smaller gypsum crystals and included within the larger ones, giving the whole specimen a wonderful color contrast. I have seen this material over the years, in trickles to the market. Never have I seen one of this size, quality, and overall showiness.It is, to me, a unique and interesting azurite occurrence in a combination that is for some reason simply almost never seen. Out of all the specimens of this material I have sene over the years, this one floored me for its overall quality and impact.
ex. Harold Urish
The surface of this dramatic, large matrix specimen is covered with lustrous, translucent, royal blue, crystals of azurite, to 1.5 cm across. Adding a measure of beauty is the druse of light green malachite under the azurite. According to Les Presmyk, who as both an Arizona specialist and collector of Morenci material saw much of this find, crystallized azurites of this size and quality are very uncommon from Morenci and "were virtually unknown until this discovery in the Northwest Extension area in spring and summer of 1992. This was the finest crystallized azurite pocket to be collected in this area and specimens larger than 8 by 8 cm were unusual. This is particularly fine because of the large, lustrous crystals framed by the chrysocolla-dusted malachite matrix" .This is therefore by any standard a large and significant cabinet specimen for the historic locality itself, rare, in such large and pristine specimens. Comes on custom lucite base for display.
ex. Harold Urish
Small crystals of of ivory-colored cerussite dot a crust of multihued, light and dark green spheres of satiny-luster malachite. The spheres average 1.75 cm across and the overall undulating topography of the specimen is really aesthetic. Like the above, one of the best of these I have seen recently, and quite attractive by any standard. The cerussite association is nice because it makes you sure these aren't African malachites with erroneous labels! Comes with custom lucite base for easy display.
ex. Harold Urish
Looking jewel-like in its natural dolomitic vug, is a doubly-terminated, transparent, colorless, quartz crystal, measuring 2.75 cm in length. This specimen dramatically illustrates how crystals can form in the small cavities within rocks. A truly rare matrix example of the famous "Herkimer Diamonds".
ex. Harold Urish
Vugs in a limonitic matrix are the host for lustrous, translucent, bi-pyramidal, brownish-red crystals of wulfenite to .65 cm across. Of all the habits of wulfenite, bi-pyramidal is the rarest. Until I saw this specimen, I wasn’t aware of Argentine wulfenite as anything but micros, let alone in this rare habit for the species.
ex. Harold Urish
This is a large plate of densely intergrown, botryoidal, translucent, smithsonite, which exhibits a high quality satiny luster, along with superb blue coloration. It is CLASSIC! The spheres reach 1.5 cm across. It is from the Kelly mine that botryoidal smithsonite reaches its zenith and this color is the primo "Kelly blue" hue. Only very minor contact damage on the periphery keeps this specimen from being perfect. It certainly displays very dramatically and you would be hard pressed to normally be able to find such a large and solid piece of Kelly blue of this quality, overall. The smithsonite averages 1.5 cm thick, by the way, on top of limonite matrix. This is carving grade, and could be vcut for cabochons and jewelry.
ex. Harold Urish
This aesthetic and dramatic specimen features two generations of quartz crystal growth. The first generation was comprised of three, milky to colorless, large quartz crystals, to 6.75 cm in length. The second generation consists of gemmy, smoky to citrine colored quartz crystals, to 1.5 cm in length, that have grown like a pincushion over the earlier generation. This is pure and simply, a mesmerizing specimen! We had a Scovil photo taken of this, for use in advertising, which comes included.
ex. Harold Urish
This specimen is an intergrowth of copper, malachite and cuprite. The copper takes on a dark, reddish-brown patina where it coats the copper. Uncoated copper has a fresh coloration. These darker colors are offset by rich green malachite overgrowth of copper. Although crystallization is at a minimum, the riot of colors makes this a beautiful specimen and it is significant for the locality as well
ex. Harold Urish
Hundreds of nearly colorless, translucent, prismatic crystals of edingtonite, to .2 cm in length, line a vug. Edingtonite is a rather rare member of the zeolite group and this is a large specimen from a classic locale.
ex. Harold Urish
Rhombs of lustrous, pink rhodochrosite, to 1.5 cm across are in turn partially covered by intense pink, translucent, prismatic crystals of pyroxmangite (a rare, manganese, iron silicate) to .5 cm in length. This is a really unusual phenomenon, to see both related species on the same specimen! But, clearly from the crystal habits here, that is what we have. Never seen before, ourselves... There are also tiny crystals of an unknown black minerals covering a fair amount of the viewing surface. There is admittedly some damage to the rhodochrosite here, especially at the upper-left, hence the lower price than you might expect.
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share specimen![Mica var. Margarite from Wright Mine, Chester, Massachusetts, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-21a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-21a.jpg)
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![Azurite on Selenite from Buda Rock, Ray Mine, Pinal Co., Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-14b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-14b.jpg)
![Azurite on Selenite from Buda Rock, Ray Mine, Pinal Co., Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-14c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-14c.jpg)
![Azurite on chrysocolla-coated Malachite from Northwest Extension, Morenci Mine, Morenci, Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-13a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-13a.jpg)
![Azurite on chrysocolla-coated Malachite from Northwest Extension, Morenci Mine, Morenci, Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-13b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-13b.jpg)
![Azurite on chrysocolla-coated Malachite from Northwest Extension, Morenci Mine, Morenci, Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-13c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-13c.jpg)
![Azurite on chrysocolla-coated Malachite from Northwest Extension, Morenci Mine, Morenci, Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-13d.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-13d.jpg)
![Azurite on chrysocolla-coated Malachite from Northwest Extension, Morenci Mine, Morenci, Arizona, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-13e.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-13e.jpg)
![Malachite from Brown’s deposit, Rum Jungle, Northern Territory, Australia [db_pics/pics/uri-16a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-16a.jpg)
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![Rhodochrosite and Pyroxmangite from Sunnyside Mine, San Juan Co., Colorado, USA [db_pics/pics/uri-30a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/uri-30a.jpg)
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