Heulandite-Ca (excellent color)

Item Description

Heulandite is a well-known zeolite mineral (it has actually been reclassified into a few separate species), found in volcanic rock environments around the world. The majority of the Heulandite crystals you'll find are other white, or a very pale cream/pink hue, but the specimens from Glendowda Station in New South Wales, Australia have some of the richest red-orange hues you'll see for the material. This piece is a beautiful layered group of sharp, well-formed, lustrous, strong red-orange colored bladed crystals of Heulandite, free of matrix. There is a spot in the center of the specimen that appears to be some kind of cryptocrystalline Quartz, it almost looks like Opal, but I can't say for certain what it is. The color and quality of the Heulandite crystals is excellent, and the piece is quite showy largely free of damage on the display side.
From the collection of the well-known mineral dealer Richard ("Rich") A. Kosnar (1946-2007). Rich was the namesake for the phosphate Kosnarite (a rare honor for a mineral dealer). Although he spent the majority of his life in Colorado, but was born and raised in New Jersey, where he grew up collecting zeolites and associated minerals in the various trap rock quarries in the northern part of the state. His love for these minerals carried through his adult life and he assembled suites of zeolites and associated species from various world localities.