Cassiterite (gemmy twinned crystal)

Item Description

There are many localities for Cassiterite around the world, but the VAST majority of those crystals are opaque. It is rather rare to get your hands on gem quality Cassiterite crystals from anywhere. This attractive small cabinet display specimen features a fine quality, twinned, gemmy, sharp and very lustrous 1.3 cm Cassiterite crystal which elegantly perched on tiny Quartz crystals on host rock matrix. The crystal looks black in reflected light, but when it's backlit, it shows a flashes of golden and amber hues internally. A few smaller secondary Cassiterites makes for a nice touch. I can see one tiny nick on the top of the main crystal, but you can barely see it without a loupe. This small and remote deposit has produced the gemmiest Cassiterites of China, which are quite comparable to the old Bolivian material from the 1970s and 1980s. This showy and excellent specimen dates back to the late 1990s - early 2000s at this less well-known Chinese locale. These Cassiterites are comparable in quality from those famous Mt Xuebaoding, but the fact that they are GEMMY, makes all the difference. Priced at $850 in the inventory.