Carpholite (rare) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

A rich large thumbnail / toenail specimen of the rare and attractive manganese aluminum hydroxy silicate and namesake for its own group, Carpholite. This species was named after the Greek words for "straw" and "stone", due to the nature of hue of the crystals. The species dates back to 1817 when it was first discovered at Horni Slavkov (Schlaggenwald) in present day Czech Republic. This particular specimen just happens to be from the type locality, which means it's celebrating its 200th birthday this year. Beautiful silky / vitreous radial groups of fine acicular crystals of golden/straw colored Carpholite sit beautifully on the underlying matrix. A great overall display specimen of this hard to find and eye-catching material from this historic locality. A cool specimen to add to a rarities collection. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#1412). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Velt" November-December 2017).