Erythrite

Item Description

This excellent, shockingly colorful large Erythrite specimen from Morocco was formerly in the Dr. Erika Pohl-Stroher collection of African minerals, in her strong Morocco suite. It is an important piece for the species all of them made up of fantastic fanned groups of prismatic, wedge-shaped terminated crystals of the deepest magenta. These crystals are literally the top quality you can get, in terms of metallic luster and saturated color. They would be materially better than 95 percent of others at the time they came out, from what we have seen over decades of watching them recycle to market. Many are colorful but not this lustrous. Some of them are translucent and display internal reflections with a brighter magenta color. The Erythrite crystals are between 0.5 and 2 cm in length with good luster and they contrast nicely with the the contrasting matrix. This small cabinet specimen stands out from the majority of pieces from finds at the Aghbar Mine, which is the only contemporary source for great examples of the species. Erythrite came at its best from this mine and this is an exceptional example from earlier finds here (mid 1980s and again a few were found in the early 1990s so it could be from either discovery). Only a few old collections have comparable pieces, and they are highly treasured. Valued $3000-plus. Much better in person.