Cryolite (classic material) (ex Royal Ontario Museum Collection)

Item Description

The finest and most well-known specimens of Cryolite are those from the famous extinct Type Locality in Greenland. This small cabinet piece is a rich, solid mass of chalky white Cryolite. The piece is not fully crystallized, but I can see tiny crystalline faces in certain spots on the surface. This rare Na-Al halide was originally used as aluminum ore and later in the electrolytic processing of the aluminum ore bauxite. A highly representative example of this rare species. Old material, mostly from the 1800s and early 1900s. The piece comes from the prestigious Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, and is accompanied by a label from their Mineralogy Department.