Calcite on Vesuvianite with cat's eye terminations

Item Description

These are some of the more attractive and unusual Vesuvianite crystals to come out of any "Alpine cleft" locality. This piece features several sharp, highly lustrous, gemmy, "root beer" colored prisms of Vesuvianite with strange "straw"-colored "cat's eye" terminations which are coated by white rhombs of Calcite. The crystals are intermixed with bladed, grey-green "Chlorite" crystals. The Vesuvianites are reminiscent of Tourmaline crystals that I have seen from Brazil with the same "cat's eye" effect at the tips of the crystals. The Vesuvianites are good quality, and certainly uncharacteristic for the species! I have photographed a few of the crystals under the microscope to help better illustrate their unusual appearance.