Home > Mexico III Ojuela I – January 12 > MS1715 Adamite (ex Perkin)

Adamite (ex Perkin) - Sold


Adamite is a zinc arsenate. Friedel (1866) named the species after Gilbert-Joseph Adam (1795-1881), French mineralogist and mineral collector, who discovered the mineral on Chilean specimens. The first report of Ojuela adamite appears in the 1923 Catálogo sistemático de especies minerales de México published in Mexico City. American mineralogists and collectors remained unaware of the occurrence until 1946, when American collectors Dan Mayers and Francis Wise happened upon abundant well-crystallized adamite (Mrose et al., 1948). The adamite find of 1946 was world-class; top specimens were placed on display at Harvard University and the Smithsonian. A succession of mineral buyers subsequently journeyed to Ojuela with sufficient regularity to establish a local specimen mining industry, which continues to this day.

Adamite here forms fluorescent yellow fans to 9 mm across, mostly covering a gossan matrix. This piece is mounted by famous mineral dealer Willard "Perk" Perkin (1907-1991), and comes in his custom thumbnail 'Perky" box. Like many original "Perkies", this piece has a sawn back.