Epidote (ex Rich Kosnar Collection)

Item Description

The most well-known examples of Epidote are the classic specimens from the Alpine locality at the Knappenwand in the Austrian Alps. These pieces have been the standard for the species since the 1800s. The in the mid to late 1990s, we saw many good quality Epidote specimens from Pakistan on the market, and they rivaled their Austrian cousins in terms of quality, crystallization and even surpassed them in terms of gemminess. These days it has become increasingly rare to find excellent specimens such as this from Tormiq on the market. This miniature size specimen is a highly aesthetic, very showy, multi-terminated, sharp, lustrous "Faden" crystal group featuring excellent, thick / robust, "sword"-shaped crystals free of matrix. There is a small amount of attached white Albite on the back of the specimen. Some of the Epidote crystals are actually doubly-terminated on the bottom, but some of them are incomplete where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. The piece is in good shape, but some superficial nicks can be seen with magnification. With strong backlighting, you can see rich green and golden hues inside of the crystals. The pleochroism is quite evident on this one due to the thick nature of the crystals, so you can see green hues when viewed from the "a" axis and golden hues when viewed from the "b" axis. 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 ("Rich") Kosnar (1946-2007), well-known mineral dealer and collector from Colorado, and the namesake for the phosphate species, Kosnarite.