Native Silver and Calcite Kongsberg Ag Mining District,...
Native Silver and Calcite Kongsberg Ag Mining District, Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway "A four inch specimen with a base of small quartz and calcite crystals with a twisting silver wire growing up off the base for about three inches penetrating calcite crystals here and there. Traded this specimen from the George Vaux collection from Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia when Harold Arndt was still curator. I traded the specimen for not very much because the silver was all mashed down on the top of the matrix. Little by little I realized that I could bend the silver back up to what it must have looked like when they took it out of the mine. During the many years since it was mined, the silver had been compacted down on the top of the specimen." - Rock H. Currier The malleability of Silver is well appreciated by workers charged with cranking out schlocky, tourist jewelry and the like. Currier took advantage of this very un-mineral-like property in order to return this specimen to its former glory. He is to be commended for not removing the Calcite crystals to make it look more 'typical'. Review of the Vaux label indicates that George Vaux got this Silver from his uncle, William Sansom Vaux - there is a "WSV" notation on the label. So Rock is also to be commended for preserving the documentation for this specimen, rescuing it from the obscurity of time. There is a custom acrylic base along with the original Vaux labels. Overall Measurements: 3.9 x 2.4 x 1.8 inches (10.0 x 6.0 x 4.5 cm) Provenance: Ex. Bryn Mawr College, Ex. George Vaux, Ex. William S. Vaux Collections [RHC #1853, acquired 1974] MinID P4T-6JE & 7GM-H11 [Scale: 1 inch, with mark at 1 cm]
HID09710052018
© 2019 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
View it on
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Native Silver and Calcite Kongsberg Ag Mining District, Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway "A four inch specimen with a base of small quartz and calcite crystals with a twisting silver wire growing up off the base for about three inches penetrating calcite crystals here and there. Traded this specimen from the George Vaux collection from Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia when Harold Arndt was still curator. I traded the specimen for not very much because the silver was all mashed down on the top of the matrix. Little by little I realized that I could bend the silver back up to what it must have looked like when they took it out of the mine. During the many years since it was mined, the silver had been compacted down on the top of the specimen." - Rock H. Currier The malleability of Silver is well appreciated by workers charged with cranking out schlocky, tourist jewelry and the like. Currier took advantage of this very un-mineral-like property in order to return this specimen to its former glory. He is to be commended for not removing the Calcite crystals to make it look more 'typical'. Review of the Vaux label indicates that George Vaux got this Silver from his uncle, William Sansom Vaux - there is a "WSV" notation on the label. So Rock is also to be commended for preserving the documentation for this specimen, rescuing it from the obscurity of time. There is a custom acrylic base along with the original Vaux labels. Overall Measurements: 3.9 x 2.4 x 1.8 inches (10.0 x 6.0 x 4.5 cm) Provenance: Ex. Bryn Mawr College, Ex. George Vaux, Ex. William S. Vaux Collections [RHC #1853, acquired 1974] MinID P4T-6JE & 7GM-H11 [Scale: 1 inch, with mark at 1 cm]
HID09710052018
© 2019 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
