Babingtonite with Quartz "casts" after Anhydrite (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

The famous Prospect Park Quarry is one of the most impressive (and under appreciated) Zeolite localities in the world. This quarry has produced some amazing specimens in the last 100 years. This specimen features a rare blue-grey crystal groups of Babingtonite (partially altered to some kind of Pyroxene) measuring 1.1 mm which is associated with colorless Quartz crystals that have formed hollow prismatic striated "casts" after preexisting Anhydrite on matrix. The Babingtonites from this locailty are very distinctive, and certainly some of the most attractive for the species from the standpoint of the unusual color. Sadly, this great New Jersey locality is being filled in for a housing development (like so many of the great Trap Rock localities in this area), and pieces like this one will be never be collected again. A wonderful display specimen of this hard to find material. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#5413). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).