HALP2-03
Smithsonite
Kelly Mine, Magdalena, Socorro County, New Mexico, USA
Small Cabinet, 9.2 x 6.6 x 5.5 cm
Ex. Jack Halpern
SOLD

Kelly Mine smithsonites are famous the world over for their classic Robin's-Egg blue color, and then for various styles and other colors as well. But this one color has always bent he most classic and this specimen has it, at the top range of that classic color style, but interestingly mixed with veins of strange white smithsonite that make it look like a watercolor painting in progress. The surface is surreal, because it tricks the eye into seeing more dimensionality to the patterning, when in fact the smithsonite colors are really intermixed, not layered upon one another as you might first think. The overall effect is very beautiful. Luster is top, super sparkling and shiny by the standards of this material. An old piece, surely, by the style. Obtained by Jack Halpern in 1970 from famous dealer Beth Gordon (the matriarch of the Van Scriver mineral dealing dynasty of 3 generations of dealers). Comes with a custom lucite base.