SOLD
DEN13-1028
Fluorite
Minerva #1 Mine, Cave-in-Rock, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA
Cabinet, 13.5 x 12.0 x 8.5 cm
Ex. Richard Heck
SOLD

I think the photos speak for themselves, although this is even better in person. It is an intensely colorful specimen with hot yellow cubes as sharp as you could dream of, and highlighted by purple phantoms around their edges. It looks like cubic mushrooms shooting up - it is very 3-dimensional. The piece is large, as well; a full cabinet size and then some. It is complete all around, and has no repairs. It is nearly undamaged as well, though I made the choice to have a few small dings restored for clean edges, with color-matched restorative epoxy. Overall, just a major fluorite, but also one of a fairly unique style that makes it stand out from all the others we so often see. The collection of Dr. Richard "Dick" Heck was considered one of the finest collections of Illinois fluorites and associated minerals assembled during the active life of the mine. It disappeared in an inheritance spat for over a decade, and resurfaced in 2011 (with me, fortunately!). I knew Dick as a kid, and he taught me the difference between paying a fair price for "good minerals" and a high price for "premium minerals," and in fact it was from him that I was exposed to my first issues of the Mineralogical Record magazine while we sat next to each other in the Cincinnati show trade/swap tables (me, barely a high school kid; him, a retired dentist already). Price on Request. Joe Budd Photos.