Gemmy Pyrochlore xls

Item Description

Sharp, glassy and mostly gemmy, burnished brown pyrochlore octahedrons to 9 mm, with beautiful flashes of gemmy red, orange and yellow fire, are aesthetically scattered on the calcite-rich matrix of this very fine specimen from Vishnovogorsk, Ural Mts., Russia. Pyrochlore is an uncommon niobium oxide and crystals are usually brown and dull and earthy. Lustrous, glassy crystals such as these, with this gemminess, are quite uncommon and this locality is regarded as the king for "pretty" examples of the species. Most came out in the 1980s or before, I was once told, and were released from old stashes. As an added bonus there are two, unknown, segmented, gemmy, yellow-green, acicular crystals to 9 mm long at the bottom of the piece. The back has been sawed to enhance the display quality. Valued at $500.