Carborundum (synthetic Silicon Carbide)

Item Description

A rather attractive specimen of Carborundum, synthetic crystallized Silicon Carbide. Carborundum is actually found in nature in extremely rare instances as the mineral Moissanite, and occasionally you will see synthetic Moissanite sold in jewelry. This miniature sized piece features excellent, very sharp, fairly thick bladed hexagonal crystals forming "rose"-shaped aggregates with a dark metallic appearance measuring up to 1.3 cm across on matrix. The crystals have a highly reflective luster, and looks black in reflected light, but with STRONG backlighting they are slightly gemmy, showing an attractive GREEN color internally. Please note that no specific locality was given on the label for the specimen, so we don't know specifically where it was grown.
From the synthetic mineral suite of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#4363). This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.