Geologic Desires: Aesthetic Mineral Specimens

Barite, Calcite and other Mineral Specimens from Beaman Rd., Gouverneur, New York

This mineral specimen from the Jay Walter is on of the best barites to be produced at the Beaman Road site near Gouverneur, New York. Here is a super cluster of barite, quartz and calcite. This parallel growth calcite has a thin irridescent coating.

(Here is the initial description form my mail order listing which came out shortly after this sites rediscovery)

Barite/ Calcite Beaman Road, Gouverneur, NY. This is material from a recently rediscovered site first documented by Nims in the 1880's. Wonderful white (sometimes with a light blue cast) and clear double terminated barites. These classic barites have the shape of a diamond (like on a deck of cards) with transparency in smaller ones and translucence in larger ones. White FLUORESCENCE. Limited material in that I and one other collector recovered what we believe are all of the specimens that will be found at the site. Check out our field trip description. The site is now permanently closed. If you have any interest in barites or New York State minerals you should not delay in purchasing one of these fine pieces. The NYS Museum bought many of my better specimens before I even had them cleaned. See one of these on their website by following this link http://www.nysam.org/nymineral.cfm?number=19241 Dr. Steve Chamberlain and myself are co-authoring a series of articles for Rocks and Minerals Magazine. The Beaman Road Occurrence will be the inaugural paper in this series.

Many of these barites are on large cream colored calcites. Accessories sometimes include tan dolomite crystals and tiny gray quartz crystals. These will be impossible to get specimens in years to come...I am not squirreling any away for a rainy day.

This page of barites represent spectacular examples of this material. These barites are all well formed, double terminated examples. They are translucent to transparent and white in color often on iridescent calcite.

Several are the remains of my own collection and others are some I have recently acquired from another collector who was able to do a day of serious collecting while I was not there. The Rocks and Minerals Article will detail the sites short history and describe the importance of this rare find. These are certainly the last of the very best of these New York State barites that will be available to collectors and institutions. My collection is exhausted and my inventory nearly so.