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encompassing the Neal Yedlin Copper Collection
HC19 - Copper - AUS$ 10506 Fissure Veins (Cliff, Copper falls or Phoenix Mine), Keweenaw County, Michigan cabinet, 15.5 x 10.3 x 6.8 cm ex. George Vaux ex. Neal Yedlin ex. Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences ex. Richard Hauck
This specimen is a tightly packed mass of solid copper, with exceptional SHARP crystals all around and up and down, over the top, and elegantly tapering to a curve at the bottom. It is SO MUCH MORE impressive in person! The chocolatey-rich patina is lustrous and beautiful, and the piece is aesthetic despite its large mass and 3-dimensionality. Neal Yedlin traded this out of the Philadelphia Academy collection in the early 1970s . Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC25 - Copper - AUS$ 66354 SOLD Fissure Veins, Keweenaw County, Michigan large cabinet, 26.4 x 13.4 x 5.5 cm ex. Cranbrook Institute ex. Neal Yedlin ex. Richard Hauck
This remarkable museum-sized specimen was the pride of the collection, and stands up there with the finest large copper specimens in any museum in the United States as a piece of US history. Even the Seaman Museum, our largest repository of historic and fine copper specimens, has not many pieces with such large cubic crystals and I think not another of this size for the style. This specimen has cubes all over it, a rare form in copper, to 2 cm. It has reticulated clusters of elongate, rectilinear crystals. It has distorted crystals of other habits. It has spinel twins tucked in the body. It is overall a riveting piece with so many different kinds of crystallization. Taking the size into account, as well, and you really do have a museum-grade, world-class copper. It was in a museum, in fact, for most of the 1900s - donated to Cranbrook at some point and then traded out by the late Neal Yedlin in the 1970s. I am told that this was the cornerstone of the Yedlin Collection, which was abosrbed into this collection on its purchase. Comes with a custom lucite display base. (probably Copper falls or Phoenix Mine),
HC20 - Copper with Barite - AUS$ 13824 SOLD Phoenix Mine, Keweenaw County, Michigan cabinet, 43.0 x 19.2 x 4.0 cm ex. Cranbrook Institute ex. Neal Yedlin ex. Richard Hauck
. This monstrous copper crystal cluster is , as you can see, LARGE and impressive. It is a "fan" style, with elongated branches growing out from a central winding stalk. However, again, look at the size...you realize this is no flimsy thin copper plate! It is a thick, robust, sculptural, heavy specimen with no fragility at all as with some typical copper fansprays. I personally think its a bargain - the reason being that although its incredible for a museum, few collectors have the space or size of cabinetry to display it! But then, that is why it is all the more significant an dimportant as a historic specimen - few of such size and quality have been rpreserved over time. BOTH SIDES are equally displayable and FULLY crystallized throughout, with minor barite and minor zones of oxidized green patina scattered within the copper. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC13 - Copper with 1800's era drill impression - AUS$ 16588 SOLD 1856-1890's, Pewabic Lode, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan large cabinet, 30.0 x 24.8 x 8.1 cm ex. Richard Hauck
This is a HUGE copper specimen with a thick 12-inch crystal perched on natural pedestal of smaller crystals. Its a floater, complete all around, and with really impressive 3-dimensionality. We call it the "antiaircraft gun" for obvious reasons. This crystal has, in its middle, a souvenir of the pre-1900s mining technique of hand-drilling. This impression would have been left by a cold steel drill bar that was hammered through the rock by two strong men, alternating turns while another held a candle. The trick was to aim for the candle's reflection on the polished end, and NOT to have the hammer slip and hit your buddy holding the bar in place. It was not the easiest of techniques. I find this to be a fascinating specimen! So did the Seaman Museum folks. Yes, technically it is "scarred", but its in such an interesting manner that to me this is definitely a museum-style piece. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC18 - Copper - AUS$ 13271 SOLD Franklin Mine, 1856-1890's, Pewabic Lode, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan large cabinet, 16.2 x 10.5 x 4.0 cm ex. Bryn Mawr College ex. Richard Hauck
A visually stunning large specimen with classic old patina to it, and sculptural form. You can see how the huge spinel-twinned crystals shoot off in several directins and act as host for some very complex combinatorial forms of copper crystallization resulting in so-called "arrowheads" crystals that have always been rare and desirable to collectors (I think these are tetrahex modified by other forms?). The bright patina, combined with complex 3-dimensional geometry, really makes it stand out. Comes with custom lucite display base. Front and back are shown...actually its good from either side!
HC15 - Copper "Lizard" - AUS$ 18247 SOLD Copper Falls Mine, Keweenaw County, Michigan large cabinet, 15.6 x 13.8 x 4.3 cm ex. Neal Yedlin ex. Richard Hauck ex. Royal Ontario Museum
This specimen features wildly elongated crystals showing the cubic form in some places, and dodecahedral crystals elsewhere. I would swear the central stalk is a single large spinel twin except that it seems too robust, so it is perhaps an elongated copper crystal of "normal" habit, stretched beyond expectation. This was probably found during the heyday here in 1844-1890 according to the Seaman Museum folks. In any case, a fanciful and sculptural specimen chosen for the collection for its obvious display qualities. Neal Yedlin traded this from Lou Moyd of the Royal Ontario Musuem, in the 1960s or 70s, I am told. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC14 - Copper - AUS$ 13271 SOLD Osceola Mine, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan cabinet, 9.4 x 6.8 x 6.6 cm ex. Richard Hauck
This is one of the most rare habits of copper: thick ropey wire copper. The style is characteristic of the Osceola Mine in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and this is an exemplary specimen because it has both robust wires AND displays aesthetically overall. It is a solid specimen of copper ingrown with datolite matrix. This is also from a museum collection, though we are unsure where now. It is the finest example of this style that I personally have seen for sale in my time as a dealer over 20 years, though I know of two other great ones which sold over that time (not publicly). In any case, it is certainly as good as you can reasonably expect for the size, and has excellent aesthetics that surely must make it one of the better surviving examples of this style. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC21 - Copper - AUS$ 8294 SOLD Fissure Veins (Cliff, Copper falls or Phoenix Mine), Keweenaw County, Michigan cabinet, 13.3 x 11.2 x 7.5 cm ex. Richard Hauck
A very 3-dimensional specimen with great aesthetics from any angle because it resembles a flowing vine with SHARP copper crystals shooting off every which way. These crystals measure to 3 cm and are of at least 3 different habits, plus combinations of those habits. I see at least one large twin atop, as well. The branching aesthetics of this piece are really elegant, and its a very much mor ebeautiful specimen in person than it appears here. The patina, also, has a bright brassy hlustre to it that is highly desirable. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HCa7 - Copper (spinel twinned) - AUS$ 6635 SOLD probably Central Mine, Keweenaw County, Michigan small cabinet, 9.2 x 8.9 x 8.1 cm ex. Allan Crunden ex. Richard Hauck
Like other fissure vein pieces of substance, this most likely dates to the 1870s-1890s peak of production and has a wonderful old antqiue patina to it. This particular piece is a rarity - a thick cluster of intergrown spinel-twinned copper crystals , to 6 cm in length! While common enough from Arizona, such thick twinned clusters are NOT common at all from Michigan's historic mines. The crystallization is complete all around, and the piece is much more impressive in person because the camera blurs on the focus here. Also, the patina on this is a very desirable chocolatey brown! Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC8 - Copper "Herringbone" with Quartz - AUS$ 3871 SOLD Fissure Vein: Copper Falls Mine, Keweenaw County, Michigan cabinet, 10.5 x 5.5 x 2.8 cm ex. Richard Hauck
This is an incredibly ornate, intricate crystallized copper that looks like nothing so much as an ancient ceremonial shield. It features SHARP (razorsharp!) spinel-twinned copper crystals radiating off to either side of a central atrray of two larger and more robust crystals running lengthwise down the piece. Between each spinel twin "spoke" are hundreds of tiny conenctor crystals in a herringbone-style pattern, reinforcing the strength and stability of the whole piece as well as making for a mesmerizing look. The piece is 3-dimensional, in that it has a thick midsection lending stability and support. This is a VERY UNUSUAL STYLE for a Michigan copper and quite different than most of what you could obtain from these old mines. I have seen no other quite like this for sale, except for superficially similar material from the Champion Mine - in person, though, they are quite distinct.Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC22 - Copper - SOLD (1856-1890's) Pewabic Lode (Franklin or Quincy Mines), Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan cabinet, 11.6 x 9.5 x 7.1 cm ex. Neal Yedlin ex. Richard Hauck ex. Wesleyan College
This specimen is a very hefty cluster of intergrown, thick crystals of myriad habits, and on top sits this perfect, isolated "button" of a crystal! The crystal is SHARPLY tetrahexahedral with a dodecahedral modification, and measures almost 2 cm across. It just sits there looking at you, very bizarre to see at the top of this cluster! Ex. Weesleyan College and Neal Yedlin Collections. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC17 - Copper - AUS$ 3871 SOLD Quincy Mine, Hancock, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan cabinet, 15.9 x 9.2 x 6.0 cm ex. Richard Hauck
An elegant, arborescent , dramatic crystal cluster just rising up off a well-trimmed matrix - it is rare to find such large crystals in any case (cluster or not), and on matrix even less common. The matrix has epidote and quartz in it, as well as rock. The copper is SOLIDLY embedded - this is no frail treelike growth, but a solidly connected cluster. The cluster overall is flattish, mostly about 1 cm thick; though smaller fat crystals poke out in a few places. I think that for the price in particular, this is a very good deal! Comes with custom lucite display base.
mcop13 - Copper "Feathers" (miner carving) - AUS$ 9953 SOLD Calumet and Hecla Mines, Calumet, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan cabinet, 15.3 x 8.0 x 6.8 cm ex. Richard Hauck
What the heck is this?! It is a VERY FINE, large, uncommonly good example of the kind of sculpture made by miners in the late 1800s and early 1900s to while the time away between shifts or on breaks, and in fact the skill of carving these "flowers" with dull metal chisels was a highly refined and competitive art form. I have seen a number over the years of SINGLES. but for somebody to create a group like this without it coming apart, as they chisel the solid copper mass, requires incredible skill. I have not seen better for sale and my friends who know more tell me that this really is one of the best examples surviving. The Seaman Musuem has a bigger, but different one. This one is not only good for the number of feathers and size, but also for the fact that it was done in a precise manner to make it as elegant as possible. Usually the chisel carvings are one-directional, not 3-dimensional as this one. Traditionally, these sell among collectors of mining ephemera for $1000 per feather, in clusters. Most clusters are only 2-4 feathers, of course, so that makes them affordable. This has NINE good feathers, and so is worth $9000 as these go (I am told). I can tell you that for the money, you get a lot of impact from the public and even most knowledgeable collectors thinking this is natural, because of its elegance. Anyways, its not made in the ground but it IS nevertheless a ahighly significant Michigan mining artifact, that fits in well with a fine mineral collection of coppers. Comes with custom lucite display base.
HC30 - Float Copper with natural hole - AUS$ 1382 Conglomerate Lodes, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan cabinet, 21.3 x 11.0 x 6.5 cm (weight 6.6 pounds ex. Richard Hauck
Just a REALLY interesting and NATURAL , 3-dimensional piece of float copper! It looks carved, but is not. It is elegant, actually, for what it is, and has a surface polished smooth by natural tumbling in water in the past. weight 6.6 pounds = 3 kilos
HC27 - Copper - AUS$ 2212 SOLD Fissure Veins (Cliff, Copper falls or Phoenix Mine), Keweenaw County, Michigan large cabinet, 34.2 x 11.5 x 7.2 cm ex. Richard Hauck
This is the first of two extremely large and impressive "snakes" of intergrown copper crystals obtained by Gene Sensel from Werner Krauss' collection in 1962. Hauck bought the Sensel collection and kept these for himself. They are probably very old specimens, but there is no way to be sure how old or exactly which mine they came from. They are complete on both sides and all around; and are very hefty and impressive in person. For the size, this is an extremely elegant specimen too, with none of the uusual matrixy-ugly-included portions common in so many large coppers. This one is more massive and robust, and heavier, than its brother below. Its just not quite as elegant, but it IS very impressive and is in comprarison at a bargain price
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