AMERICAN MINERAL CLASSIC: BARITE . ...

Description

AMERICAN MINERAL CLASSIC: BARITE
Elk Creek locality, Dalzell, Meade Co., South Dakota, USA
Distributed across some 160 kilometers of South Dakota is a shale layer from the Age of Dinosaurs, containing calcareous concretions: roughly spherical aglomerations of rock embedded in the less resistant shale/mudstones. These concretions are broken open by collectors with sledgehammers and occasionally; there will be a hollow cavity lined with the yellow Calcite and root-beer colored Barite, seen here. Most of the few specimens that are found suffer from imperfections and/or damage. This rare specimen escaped both of those fates and was featured in the American Mineral Treasures Exhibit at Tucson Arizona in February 2008. It is comprised of a single transparent prism of dark brown Barite with lovely side accents of golden yellow Calcite crystals. The Barite is 2 ½ inches in height and possesses some enormous growth helices on its faces. There is minor damage near the base and a 'contact' to the back side of the termination that does not affect display. On a custom acrylic base this fine specimen measures 2 ½ x 2 x 1 ¼ inches.
Provenance: American Mineral Treasures Case, Tucson, Arizona, February 2008; Ex Stoudt Collection

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