Blödite

Item Description

An outstanding and strange floater example of Blodite, a rare hydrated Na-Mg sulfate. The sharp, equant, monoclinic, doubly terminated, translucent, crystal has waxy luster faces and is strikingly accented with concentric growth bands of dark organic material. Backlighting highlights the dark organic bands. It is found in oceanic and lacustrine salt deposits and in nitrate deposits in arid regions. Crystals need to be kept sealed in a bag or oiled with mineral oil or sprayed with an acrylic to preserve its hydration state. It will start to dissolve as it pulls moisture from the air, if kept in a humid environment. Excellent material from 1960s and 70s collecting at Soda Lake, which produced the world's finest examples of the species. Seldom on the market today. We believe that Bob Reynolds collected most of these California minerals himself, as he was a frequent visitor to the location - and this was the best example we obtained in his large collection. Bob was a huge field collector in California and had a broad collection, including many such historic locales. He was the curator of the San Bernardino Museum.