Andalusite coated by Pyrophyllite

Item Description

A cool specimen from the Snow Camp Mine featuring an exposed vug filled with thin prismatic crystals of Andalusite measuring up to about 1.1 cm, which have been coated by light tan colored Pyrophyllite, sitting on massive talc matrix. I can't recall seeing another piece quite like this from the Snow Camp Mine.
From the collection of Norman Kennedy ("Kenny") Gay (1953-2023), a geologist, geoscience educator and mineral collector from North Carolina. (#M101 A.4). The piece comes with a label from the collection of Russ Holshouser. Kenny worked for North Carolina Geological Survey starting 1995, and he was a member of the adjunct faculty at Wesleyan College, and a professor of geology since 2001. He assembled a large collection of worldwide minerals specimens, though he focused mainly on minerals of North Carolina. Kenny did substantial work documenting all of the significant mineral occurrences and mining/mineral collecting in North Carolina. He might be best associated with the Redmond Mine, where the rare extremely rare lead sulfate Kennygayite was discovered and named in his honor in 2022. Kenny was the first person to collect specimens at this locality, which lead Jason Smith to take an interest in this assemblage, and later name a mineral in Kenny's honor.