Epidote (doubly-terminated / multi-terminated ''Faden'' group) (ex Rich Kosnar Collection)

Item Description

These specimens first made their appearance on the market in the early 1990s. We started to see many good quality specimens of this material coming over from Pakistan. Today, there are very few new pieces found, and it has become increasingly rare to find excellent specimens such as this from Tormiq. The Pakistani specimens are seemingly identical to their classic European Alpine counterparts, and an argument can be made that in certain instances, the European specimens have been surpassed with regard to overall quality and gemminess. This small cabinet specimen is a highly aesthetic, very showy, doubly-terminated / multi-terminated, sharp, highly lustrous "Faden" crystal group featuring excellent, golden colored "sword"-shaped crystals free of matrix (minor Feldspar and Quartz can be seen on one edge) . As you can see, some of the crystals are rather gemmy, and all of them at least pass light when backlit. "Faden" is the German word for "string" and you can clearly see how the piece grew along the notable "string" that run the across the specimen. The piece is in good shape, though not 100% damage free, and looks fantastic from either side. You just don't see pieces like this on the market now, and if you consider that most Epidote crystals around the world are "black" and opaque, this piece is in the upper tier in terms of quality for the species. An excellent piece of this now classic material. Priced in the inventory at $1,800. From the collection of Richard Kosnar (1946-2007), well-known mineral dealer and collector from Colorado, and the namesake for the phosphate species, Kosnarite. Rich was quite fond of Alpine and "Alpine-type" minerals, and purchased many of these Epidotes over the years for his collection.