Brookite (gemmy ''phantom'' crystal)

Item Description

Here we have a fantastic thumbnail specimen of these world-class Brookites from the Kharan District of Pakistan. The crystal is a very thin tabular blade with an intense fiery red color when backlit, and it shows classic thin black "phantoms" which run throughout. No damage, save the base where it was detached from the pocket wall. In recent years, Pakistan produced some of the finest crystallized Brookites to come out of any locality. These are "Alpine-type" specimen and reminiscent of the famous European Alpine Brookites from various localities in Italy or Switzerland, but are often much better in terms of crystal size, color and quality. A beautiful example of this soon-to-be-classic material.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.