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The Halrd Urish Collection of Tucson, Arizona
TUCSON 2008 NEWS: OVER 500 freshly prepared specimens from the collection will be presented at TUCSON 2008 in conjunction with Arizona specialists and collectors, Les and Paula Presmyk: both in our rooms at the Westward Look Show, and at their De Natura booth at the Main Show. Most are priced to move, from $100-500. This update features some of the pricier specimens in the collection, pieces he traded for from other localities, and a teaser of the variety you will see in the Tucson inventory.
URI-01 - Adamite on Limonite - $3000 Mina Ojuela, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico small cabinet, 6.6 x 4.8 x 4.2 cm ex. Harold Urish
Converging crystallization has formed several hemispherical sprays of luscious, super-bright, apple green adamite, aesthetically perched as if climbing up a hill of contrasting limonite. The clusters average 1.8 cm across. If ever a specimen could be viewed as animate, this is the one: To a friend's eyes this specimen looks like a rhino climbing a rock and I can kinda see that too! But in any case, it is simply a stunning piece with far more aesthetics and 3-dimensionality than you normally expect to find in one of these specimens. Collected mostly in the late 60s and through the 70s, good adamites are today scarce on the market and special pieces like this one, in high demand.
URI-02 - Quartz var. Amethyst - $1450 SOLD Amatitlan, Guerrero, Mexico cabinet, 9.9 x 5.7 x 5.6 cm ex. Harold Urish
This cluster of intensely colored amethyst crystals to 8.0 cm in length represents nearly the best color saturation from this deposit that you can get, in crystals which are still gemmy and transparent. Please note the characteristic colorless terminations that most fine Guerrero amethysts exhibit, dramatically showing off the amethyst cores as you see here. One of the lesser crystals to the rear of the cluster (as shown here) is damaged at the termination, however the 2 best display angles as shown in these photos clearly do not show that minor flaw (which if not there would also vault this to 4-5k in price anyhow). Otherwise, it is pristine and complete all around and one of the most overall symmetric clusters I have had. What I find most appealing here is the superb 3-dimensionality of the specimen, and yet it does not have jagged edges and contacts despite being a cluster. Such well-formed clusters, they just are hard to get. This is probably from the 1980s. Comes with custom lucite base for display.
URI-03 - Quartz on Chrysocolla - $1150 SOLD Ray Mine, near Kearny, Pinal County, Arizona small cabinet, 9.0 x 8.0 x 5.2 cm ex. Harold Urish
Very rarely do you see vugs pulled out intact here. A brecciated matrix of chrysocolla has opened into a 4.0 cm vug of hemispherical chrysocolla which has, in turn, been covered with a druse of sparkling quartz. The color of the chrysocolla is a magnificent deep, sky-blue. Mesmerizing, and MUCH more sparkly and saturated, in person!!
URI-04 - Mimetite - $7500 SOLD Bilbao Mine, Zacatecas, Mexico small cabinet, 7.9 x 5.8 x 3.4 cm ex. Harold Urish
One of the big surprises in this collection was the best specimen of this old late-1970s material that I have yet seen in mineral collecting: a mimetite from the Bilbao Mine - NOT form the much more common Ojuela or San Pedro Correlitos locales. If you look closely at the form, the lustre, you can spot the difference. The waxy, silky surface to these stands out, at their best. Also, the matrix underneath is not the typical gossan you would see at hte other two Mexican mimetite locales. This is a beautiful, 3-dimensional, aesthetic specimen in its own right - but it ALSO has strong significance for its unique locality and for the top quality it represents, from the locale. Comes with custom lucite base for display.
URI-12 - Mimetite - $2500 Bilbao Mine, Zacatecas, Mexico small cabinet, 6.5 x 4.7 x 2.2 cm ex. Harold Urish
A thin crust supports a carpet of golden yellow, translucent spheres of mimetite, to 1 cm across. The color is just about as good as it gets from this mine. One of the big surprises in this collection was findign two specimens of this old late-1970s material, the best for sale that I have yet seen in mineral collecting: a mimetite from the Bilbao Mine - NOT form the much more common Ojuela or San Pedro Correlitos locales. If you look closely at the form, the lustre, you can spot the difference. The waxy, silky surface to these stands out, at their best. Also, the matrix underneath is not the typical gossan you would see at hte other two Mexican mimetite locales. This is a beautiful, 3-dimensional, aesthetic specimen in its own right - but it ALSO has strong significance for its unique locality and for the top quality it represents, from the locale. This would cost the same as a San Pedro piece, but it is actually MUCH more desirable to my mind. Comes with custom lucite base for display.
URI-05 - Wulfenite on Descloizite - $3750 SOLD Ahumada Mine, Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico small cabinet, 7.7 x 5.2 x 3.0 cm ex. Harold Urish
A shockingly stark, contrasting specimen with UPRIGHT, ISOLATED wulfenite crystals! The waxy-lustrous, translucent, caramel colored wulfenite crystals are aesthetically arranged on matrix of descloizite upon quartz. Nature and a good trim job by a friend have together conspired to place the largest crystal, almost 2 cm across tip to tip, perfectly in the center of the specimen, giving this piece the dominant-crystal aesthetics of competition quality pieces! It is simply , starkly, one of the more beautiful examples of its size and style I have seen from the mine. Displays beautifully on a custom-made lucite base.
URI-06 - Fluorite with Quartz and Sphalerite - $1500 SOLD Deardorf Mine, Hardin County, Illinois small cabinet, 9.6 x 8.7 x 4.4 cm ex. Harold Urish
Perched on a siliceous matrix with splendent, orange-black sphalerite crystals, to .75 cm across, is a large crystal of gemmy, lavender fluorite. Associated in the lower-right is a matte, battleship-gray, crystal of galena, 1.5 cm across. This slightly distorted cube measures 4.5 cm in length and exhibits edge color zoning. Superb! The Deardorf Mine was one of the first really choice localities for matrix fluorite crystals for collectors, and closed prior to 1960, long before the larger and more famous mines in the district opened up. It had, therefore, much smaller production as well. Specimens are noted for their association with quartz, characteristic of this mine but really almost unheard of for the other mines in Hardin County. You can clearly see the quartz association here, and the sphalerite in fact covers a solid plate of quartz. There is no doubt of its pedigree, thus! With the rich combination of sphalerite, the piece at first look smore like an Elmwood (tennessee) specimen than an Illinois piece, but this is not the case. The galena is also not Elmwood-style. It stands on its own merit as a good matrix fluorite specimen, in any case. With the fluorite mines of southern Illinois now permanently closed, specimens of this quality are not only becoming rare they are also escalating in price. Comes with custom lucite base for display.
URI-07 - Quartz on Quartz and Siderite - $950 Morro Velho Gold Mine, Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil cabinet, 13.1 x 7.6 x 3.5 cm ex. Harold Urish
A cluster of gemmy, parallel-growth, colorless quartz crystals to 7.0 cm in length has grown on a matrix of smaller quartz crystals. Covering the matrix are bladed crystals of translucent, rosy-brown, siderite to .75 cm across. Nice color contrast and unusual overall for this locality! It is fully terminated, and a thin hematite crystal is included in the back , visible in looking through the crystal tip on the right. It is just a darned good Brazilian quartz, by any standard...how often do you see upright clear quartz crystals of this size perched up on any matrix other than more quartz!? Complete all around the front and sides, contacted only on the back. This piece is particularly significant for the locality. Comes with custom lucite base for display.
URI-08a - Wulfenite - $8000 SOLD Ahumada Mine, Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico cabinet, 11.8 x 11.3 x 6.3 cm ex. Harold Urish
A contrasting white matrix is the background for a plate teeming with fine, lustrous, translucent, caramel-colored, crystals of wulfenite which reach 1.5 cm across. Most of the crystals are intergrown and the piece overall thus throws off an enormous amount of reflected light from all the angles, making the whole specimen look like a bright Christmas ornament. There is almost nil damage here. Almost all crystals are pristine. A few ha ve a minute dusting of descloizite on edges, which is a nice accent but does not detract. RARELY do you see such large plates of this old material in any condition approaching this. The piece originally was, in fact, double the size; but with damage that had to be laboriously removed by trimming it down. It is overall a superb showpiece, and significant for the size AND the visual impact together!
URI-09 - Chalcocite - $9500 SOLD Flambeau Mine, Ladysmith, Rusk County,Wisconsin cabinet, 11.5 x 7.2 x 6.0 cm ex. Harold Urish
This is a dramatically crystallized specimen of iridescent, bluish-purple chalcocite from mining in the mid-1990s here at this now reclaimed and closed-off locale. The largest crystal measures 2.5 cm across, and the whole surface is covered with sharp and colorful crystals. A large and very significant specimen from a mine that lasted from 1994-1997 and yet during that short period became world-famous for these incredible chalcocites.
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