Aragonite (rare purple color) (ex Al Kidwell Collection)

Item Description

An aesthetic and classic Aragonite crystal cluster from this famous Spanish locality. The moderately translucent, doubly terminated crystals have a rare purplish hue at their core which transitions into nearly colorless on the ends. The prism faces are notably lustrous, while the basal terminations have a matte luster. Many people think these crystals are hexagonal, but they're actually orthorhombic and form in pseudo-hexagonal prismatic cyclic twins. This is more than representative; it is a very good example of a common material, seldom in this quality. 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 ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-326405.html ).