Gahnite (old classic)

Item Description

From an old East Coast collection, this piece comes with an historic label from the legendary mineral dealer, Hugh A. Ford. Since the label has Ford's New York address it dates to 1946-1957. Gahnite is a member of the Spinel Group (sometimes called zinc spinel), and good crystals are not terribly common from the United States. This piece hails from the old Davis Pyrite Mine in Rowe, in far northwestern Massachusetts. The locality opened in 1882, and closed forever over 100 years ago in 1911. Good crystals are not common from this locality, as A. G. Dana reported that the "hardness of the enclosing rock made it difficult to obtain the crystals unbroken". This piece hosts a few fairly good crystals with sharp faces and deep greenish-black color measuring up to 6 mm on host rock matrix. A great old time classic specimen from Rowe, and very difficult to find on market today.