Forsterite var: Peridot

Item Description

Peridot is a well-known gem green variety of the mineral Forsterite, but well-formed, sharp Peridot crystals are not terribly common in nature. Most examples of Peridot around the world are typically either broken facet material or crude / granular examples. There are a handful of localities in the world that produce exemplary crystals of Peridot, and Sapat Gali is certainly in the highest echelon in terms of size, color, sharpness and transparency. These attractive Peridots began showing up in the early 1990s and no world locality has produced the quality and quantity of euhedral Peridot crystals like Sapat Gali. This thumbnail sized piece is a light green colored, sharp, well-formed, euhedral, gemmy/translucent crystal, free of matrix. A lot of the Peridot crystals from this locality are either dull or rounded, but this one is better than most due to it's well-formed faces with good luster.
This piece comes to us from the legendary Ron Romanella (February 28, 1932 - October 24, 2022), a well-known gem and mineral dealer from New York City. He studied mineralogy at Columbia School of Mines, and he was mentored by Dr. Frederick Pough of the American Museum of Natural History. Ron learned about the business side from well-known mineral dealers Hugh Ford and Maurice Hammoneau. Ron himself was a mentor to other successful East Coast mineral dealers such as Larry Conklin, Herb Obodda and even employed Dave Wilber for a time. He largely transitioned out of selling minerals as his business focused more on gems for the last few decades, and his sons Michael and Jerry have been running the family business in Scottsdale for many years now. With that said, Ron was one of the great powerhouse mineral dealers in the US for many years, offering fine quality specimens and gem crystals from classic and contemporary localities. Among his top achievements, is that Ron is credited with importing the first known crystals of Tanzanite into the US in the 1960s.