Chondrodite (ex David Burgess Collection

Item Description

Going back to the mid 2000s, we saw some really fine quality and attractive red color Chondrodites coming out of Afghanistan. These pieces came from the the same area where the famous Lapis Lazuli is mined. This attractive thumbnail features several notably sharp, well-formed, lustrous, red color monoclinic crystals of Chondrodite measuring up to 9 mm sitting atop greenish mica matrix. from this contemporary discovery. The main crystal shows wonderful color and gemminess when backlit. No major damage to be found, just a few tiny imperfections on the minor accessory crystals. It should be noted that you might see these pieces labeled as Clinohumite, but the information on these pieces was a bit sketchy when they first came out, so the mistake is understandable, though everything that has been analyzed so far is Chondrodite. You don't see crystallized matrix specimens of Chondrodites like this very often and it's a great thumbnail for any fan of the material or general minerals of Afghanistan. Valued at $600. From the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016) David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered.