Diopside (New Find - 2022)

Item Description

This specimen comes from a fairly new discovery in August 2022 at the Janduk Mine, near the famous locality Ladjuar Medam in Afghanistan. This limited discovery has so far had yielded some beautiful and impressive Diopside specimens, both in terms of the crystal form/quality and the fact that they're on matrix. Most of you are probably familiar with the world-class specimens of Lazurite (Lapis), Sodalite, Richterite and Afghanite among other things that come from this area. The Diopside crystals from this area actually form in the same marble as the other minerals, which is often etched away to expose the crystals within. This cabinet sized piece is a very good example of these exciting and colorful specimens featuring several a doubly-terminated, 5.2 cm, prismatic, beautiful rich green colored, fairly sharp and well-formed crystal along with smaller Diopsides and minor dark brown Phlogopite Mica on white marble matrix. The piece is in good shape overall, though there is a spot on the main Diopside where it was slightly etched and not 100% complete. I've seen a few of these pieces labeled as "Lavrovite", which is a vanadium-bearing variety of Diopside, but we have not had these pieces analyzed to know whether or not they contain vanadium. I will say that there is probably some kind of chromophore in these Diopside crystals (possibly something like vanadium or chromium), because they are a brighter green than you'd typically find in the species, as a lot of Diopside from around the world is a much darker green typically. If you collect Pyroxene minerals, specimens from Afghanistan, or if you're a fan of species from marble deposits, this is a great chance to pick up one these attractive and worthwhile Diopsides from this recent discovery. Valued at $1750 retail.