Epidote (''Faden'')

Item Description

Epidote is one of those mineral that is known to form in "Faden"-shaped groups. "Faden" is the German word for "string" and you can clearly see how the piece grew along the almost fibrous "string" that runs under the base of the specimen. Going back to the mid to late 1990s, we saw many good quality specimens of this material on the market, but 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 specimen is a highly aesthetic, very showy, multi-terminated, sharp, highly lustrous "Faden" crystal group featuring excellent, olive oil green to golden colored (pleochroic) "sword"-shaped crystals free of matrix. As you can see, some of the crystals are very gemmy when backlit. The piece is in very good shape, and looks fantastic from either side. It's nearly a complete "floater", but there is a tiny point of attachment on the back. 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. PLEASE NOTE: This piece is GEMMIER than the video indicates, but it was very difficult to get the light to come through the crystals accurately. An excellent piece of this now classic material. From the collection of Tim Sherburn.