Charoite and Tinaksite (ex Van Tichelen Collection)

Item Description

A really eye-catching hand sized display specimen of light purple, "swirling", semi-fibrous Charoite with fine quality, triclinic prisms of somewhat gemmy, coppery colored Tinaksite on the back. The piece is one of the more attractive and worthwhile specimens of this rare association that I've seen. It should be noted that Charoite is a very complex silicate which gets its name from the Chara River, while Tinaksite is not as complex of a silicate, and gets its name from its composition (titanium (Ti), sodium (Na) potassium (K) and silicon (Si) - similar to Cavansite. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only locality in the world where these two species are found together, and I'm fairly certain that neither of them has ever been reported outside of Russia. This is a good quality specimen with beautiful color and visceral appeal. The piece comes to us from the collection of Wouter Van Tichelen, and is accompanied by a label from the N.M.N.H, the Bulgarian Academy of Science in Sophia. You just can't get these anymore, and to find an UN-polished piece of Charoite