DT Wiluite xl (rare - Co-Type Locality) Kay Robertson Coll.

Item Description

Wiluite is a rare member of the Vesuvianite Group. Specimens from the Co-Type Localities in Russia were originally thought to be Vesuvianite crystals and were sold cheaply. They were determined to be a separate species only in 1997 and prices increased markedly. This a a very sharp and essentially pristine doubly terminated floater crystal. The lustrous ditetragonal dipyramidal crystal has mottled blackish-green color with some areas of dark olive-green color. The embedded smaller crystals add pizzazz. Ex Kay Robertson Collection # 1601 and acquired from prominent East Coast dealer, John Albanese, probably in the early 1960s. Comes with a German label and an older Vesuvianite label. Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017). A choice thumbnail single crystal floater example of this fine rarity.