Gypsum (WATER-CLEAR crystal)

Item Description

An impressive, large, very sharp, well-formed, lustrous, small cabinet sized, classic old-time single crystal of GEM QUALITY colorless Gypsum from the famous Naica Mine in Mexico. This locality is of the most prolific mineral producer in Mexico and is home to the most exemplary Gypsum crystals ever discovered (the famous "Cave of Swords" and "Giant Crystal Cave") with individual crystals measuring up to 11.40 meters (approximately 37.4 feet). This piece is a great example of these older crystals (found 1960s-1970s) and would make a fantastic addition to any collection. My favorite aspect of the piece is that the termination has a slight "bend" to it, due to the soft nature of the species. This kind of growth is not unheard of for Gypsum, and it just adds to the character of this supremely high quality specimen.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.