Adularia "faden" ex Obodda

Item Description

This is an important, translucent, elegant crystal of Adularia Feldspar (the more shiny and pretty variety of feldspars are often called ADularia when they have this smooth look and sharp edges). The crystal is tall and elegant, but there is a reason it looks so unusual - it is also a Faden. Faden is the strange crystallography in a very few species (rarely garnet or apatite, and quartz mostly) that is defined in quartz according to Wikipedia as: Faden quartz is a descriptive term for a usually tabular group of quartz crystals with a white thread-like or string-like zone running through the interior. The term faden is a German word for "thread". Quartz is the most commonly Faden species, but rarely can it happen in other things...but in rock-forming feldspars?! That is rare, indeed! This one, in particular, is a classic Faden Feldspar from small finds of the early 2000s, from Pakistan. Many were brought out by dealer and collector Herb Obodda, and this is one of those. It is elegant, complete, and perfect all around. it has a small association of fibrous palygorskite "mountain leather" in some crevasses on the side. THis is a beautiful, rare Alpine specimen, and with lots of interesting things to think about compared to common feldspar, fadens, etc etc. Old material we bought from Obodda circa 2008, this was valued $1200-1500