Danalite (very rare) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

The extremely rare beryllium iron tektosilicates Danalite is named after one of the most influential people in the history of mineral collecting. James Dwight Dana was responsible for creating his System of Mineralogy, a method of categorization for mineral species that is still used today. He is arguably the single most important figure to modern mineralogy. Even though the species has been reported from dozens of world localities, specimens are next to impossible to obtain. This piece is from the very rarely seen locality at Grants Mills in Cumberland Rhode Island. It is the first piece of Danalite that we've ever had from Rhode Island to offer in the auctions. One end of the specimen features rich purple Fluorite which actually plays host to a small rich pinkish colored tetrahedron of Danalite measuring about 3 mm on host rock matrix. Most Danalite crystals are small, but if you look closely, this one is good quality and well-formed. Danalite is part of the Helvine group and forms a series with Genthelvite, all of which form in tetrahedral crystals, but this one comes labeled as Danalite from David Burgess, which is all the identification I need. As mentioned this piece is 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.