Alabandite (rare TEXAS locale)

Item Description

A ridiculously hard to find specimen from the Fannett Dome Mine, located about 10 miles southwest of Beaumont, Texas. This is the ONLY specimen we've ever had from this locality to offer in the auctions, and it's the only piece of Alabandite that I can remember seeing from Texas, period. This miniature specimen hosts a handful of small dark brownish-grey groups of the rare manganese sulfide, Alabandite measuring to about 5 mm across, sitting on drusy white crystals of Calcite on matrix. Upon close examination, you can see defined crystals faces on the Alabandites, so they're truly crystallized and not just "blebs". A really cool locality specimen, a must-have if you're a fan of minerals from Texas.
From the worldwide mineral collection of Albert Lewis Kidwell (January 1, 1919 - August 16, 2008). Al was a well-known mineral collector and research geologist with Carter Oil Company and later Exxon Oil Company in Houston, Texas. The phosphate species Kidwellite was named in his honor in 1974.
Since the Fannett Dome was sometimes referred to as the Fannett Oil Field, it's likely that Al acquired this piece through his connections in the oil world.