Helvine on Quartz with Feldspar

Item Description

A superb aesthetic example of a rare species from China in combination with quartz and on matrix, this is a sharp combination specimen from older finds of the late 1990s and early 2000s and consisting of a superb brown-red Helvite crystal front-and-center on the piece associated with beautiful Smoky Quartz crystals and white Feldspar crystals. Helvite is a manganese-beryllium silicate and this specimen shows off what is actually an intergrown pair of rich brown-red that measure about 1.5 cm across with sharp faces and edges exhibiting modified tetrahedral forms. The Helvite pair is shown off nicely propped up on a stark white Feldspar crystal with a 3.3 cm, gem Smoky Quartz crystal behind it. Additional Smoky Quartz crystals from 0.8 to 2.5 cm in size are intergrown with numerous, blocky white, 0.3 to 1.2 cm Feldspar crystals for great composition and contrast. There are even isolated patches of a sparkling, silver-green Chlorite Group mineral that is deposited on some of the Feldspar and Quartz crystals for added interest and aesthetics. An excellent Helvite combination specimen from Wushan! The location is now extinct. We simply do not see these for sale anymore and even in china, if we found one there today in an old stash, it would be valued at thousands of dollars. Note from the National Gem Lab on Google: The IMA formally respected title (2012 IMA list) is Helvine, not Helvite, although the synonym Helvite may become more common in collections and literature. Helvine are located in colors of yellow, pink, reddish brown or red, grayish yellowish and yellow-green.