Epidote (gemmy crystal with "Fadens")

Item Description

These wonderful Epidote specimens started showing up on the market back to the mid 1990s. Unfortunately it has become increasingly rare to find excellent specimens such as this from Pakistan. These 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 cabinet specimen is a highly aesthetic, very showy, multi-terminated, sharp, highly lustrous crystal group featuring a predominant gemmy crystal with a rich golden-brown hue when backlit. The smaller crystals at the base of the specimen feature classic "Faden" formations. "Faden" is the German word for "string" and you can clearly see how the smaller crystals grew along the fibrous "strings" that run the length along the base of the piece. The piece is in very good shape, with only minor roughness in a few spots.. It's actually nearly a complete "floater", but there are a few tiny points of attachment on the base. The piece also looks fantastic from either side. The pleochroism is slight on this one, but you can get it to change colors when rotated 90 degrees with strong backlighting. 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 $2,000. A classic specimen of notably rich blue colored, velvety "balls" of Shattuckite on Quartz from the famous copper producing region in the Kaokoveld. You can see how the radiating groups formed, as a few of the balls are contacted, revealing the interiors. The largest Shattuckite measures 9 mm across This mineral is not found in well-crystallized specimens, and the Namibian material is among the best and most well known Shattuckites in the world from the standpoint of both color and quality. From the collection of Vasco Trancoso, a medical doctor and prominent mineral collector from near Lisbon, Portugal (https://www.mindat.org/user-11954.html). He assembled his mineral collection over the course of 60 years, and built a fine worldwide display collection that we recently purchased. This piece is pictured on mindat.org at https://www.mindat.org/photo-185165.html