Baryte (classic gemmy crystals)

Item Description

The Book Cliffs area west of Grand Junction, Colorado has been a source of some outstanding quality crystals of colorless GEM Baryte. These lesser-known Barytes actually represent some of the finest examples of the species from Colorado or almost any other U. S. localities. The supreme gem clarity and combined with the colorless purity of the crystals makes them very eye-catching and desirable. The crystals are rarely seen on matrix, as they form inside Mancos Shale concretions, that are broken open to reveal the crystals inside, and since Baryte can be heavy and has perfect cleavage, they often "pop" off the matrix when the concretions broken apart. This beautiful toenail specimen features a pair of rather gemmy, very sharp, lustrous, colorless orthorhombic prisms of Baryte, with very minor attached matrix. The majority of the crystals are nearly WATER-CLEAR. Most people don't realize that only a small percentage of the Barites from this locality reach this quality, and most of these concretions do not host fine quality crystals, and water-clear specimens are not common on the market these days. From the collection of Brian Kosnar.