Corundum var: Ruby

Item Description

Ruby specimens from Tanzania are often seen in loose single crystals or crude crystals on matrix. With that said, it is not only rare to find excellent well-formed crystals on matrix, but you almost never see a piece with a crystal THIS size. This aesthetic and impressive small cabinet display specimen features a notably sharp, lustrous, euhedral, narrow hexagonal prismatic crystal of Ruby measuring 5.1 cm aesthetically sitting on marble and mica matrix. The crystal ranges from maroon to purplish-pink hues. The narrowest end of the crystal is clearly terminated, and the other end is not 100% crystallized, but looking closely with a loupe I can clearly see little reflective crystal faces, so it's not broken either. Obviously the marble was removed to expose the crystal, and the end result is this showy and fine quality example that is quite impressive for anything you'll find from Tanzania. Keep in mind that that are not many places in the world that produce matrix display specimens of Ruby with crystals this size, so don't miss out. This is an older piece dating back a couple decades, and if I had it for sale on the shelf at a show, I would have a price around $2,000 retail on it.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.