Aragonite (classic material)

Item Description

The Giumentaro Mine dates back to the 1800s, and produced some beautiful Aragonite specimens. Their distinctive color, with fine crystallization and good sized display specimens, made them quite popular among collectors, and they were distributed all over the world into museums and private collections. This piece features a full coverage of well-formed, soft blue-green colored, pseudo-hexagonal crystals (they're actually cyclic twins), measuring up to 1.1 cm on matrix. The vast majority of the crystals are in excellent condition, though there are some small nicks here and there. The piece shows good fluorescence under UV light as well. A classic showy example of these well-known Aragonites. From the worldwide mineral collection of Albert ("Al") 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.