Benitoite with Natrolite and Neptunite ex Kidwell

Item Description

This is fairly showy example rich with sharp "blue triangles" of Benitoite from the type locality at the now closed California State Gem Mine in California. Two dozen translucent to slightly gemmy, sapphire-blue Benitoite crystals and a few lustrous, jet-black Neptunite crystals are scattered on a plate of greenish serpentinite matrix with some contrasting snow-white Natrolite. The triangular-shaped Benitoites range in size from 2.5 mm to a little over 1 cm and have a satin luster with only a few of them lightly contacted. The Neptunite prisms are between 3 mm and 2 cm in length and all of them are sharply formed and terminated. Valued $1250. From the diverse and historic collection of one of the great field collectors and mineralogists of mid-1900s Texas, Albert Kidwell of Houston (1919-2008), after whom the mineral Kidwellite is named.