Diopside (classic locale) Dr. B. Phillips Coll.

Item Description

A very rich and showy two-sided specimen from this classic, well-known Italian locale. Glassy, translucent, sharply terminated, olive-green prisms, to 1.5 cm, dominate the crest of this shapely mounded piece. Smaller glassy prisms are festooned on the solid crystallized matrix of the same species. We believe these are all diopside crystals, rather than less common vesusvianite (idocrase) crystals, as the label states. The two species have similar crystal habits and color at the Mussa Alp. Ex Dr. Barratt Phillips Collection. Perhaps one of our Italian specialists can better define the species.