Aeschynite-(Y) (excellent crystal) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

Most of the Aeschynite crystals you see from Norway are often "lumpy", broken or just plain massive, and rarely will we get our hands on an excellent crystallized example of the material. This piece is a superb thumbnail specimen of Aeschynite-(Y), which is the most commonly known species of Aeschynite from Norway, featuring a 1.1 cm long, sharp, remarkably well-formed, tabular orthorhombic crystal with a wonderful "chisel"-shaped termination and a dark greenish-black color (with slight surface oxidation) sitting on additional partial crystals of Aeschynite-(Y). The main crystal is contacted along one edge, but it's still sharper and smoother than the VAST majority of Aeschynite crystals we've seen from any Norwegian locality. A great example of this well-known yet hard to find material. N.B.: The label accompanying the piece says it's from "Hitterö", which is actually Nes og Hitterø or Hitterø og Nes, a former municipality in Vest-Agder County, Norway. According to Wikipedia, the name Hitterø was later changed to Hidra due to Norwegian spelling reforms. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#10084). Kay was a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics. She nearly lived 100 years from April 1920 - March 2020. See the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record ( https://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/pdfs/Kay%20Robertson%20Collection.pdf ), and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017.