Heulandite-(Ca) on Chalcedony

Item Description

The Deccan Trap in India is a massive basalt flow that has produced many "best in the world" examples of various zeolite species and other associated minerals. Certainly you can say that some of, if not THE very best Heulandites ever found have come from various parts of the Maharashtra State. This piece is a superb cabinet display specimen labeled as coming from a placed called Savda, featuring a fantastic "bow tie"-shaped group of highly vitreous, gemmy, soft peach-pink colored Heulandite-Ca measuring 6.3 cm across, with a few additional smaller Heulandites, sitting atop beautifully contrasting, sparkling, silvery-grey colored botryoidal Chalcedony on basalt matrix. The main Heulandite group is pristine and has about as good of luster as you can expect for the species. I really love the internal translucency of the crystals, with an almost pearlescent appearance. A fine example of what might be considered fairly common material on the market, but you can't deny that top pieces like this are about as good as it gets for Heulandite.
From the collection of Jack Halpern No. 3006. Jack was born May 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, but has been a long-time resident of San Francisco. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the world encompassing over 3,200 specimens with a specific emphasis on color, quality, and style/aesthetics, which is evident in every piece. He admired specimens of all sizes from thumbnails to large cabinets and the vast majority of them rank from fine to world-class in their quality.
Above all else, Jack is considered to be the greatest gentleman in the modern era of mineral collecting. He is beloved by all those who have met him, and he truly is one of the most iconic figures in the mineral world. We recently acquired Jack's collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality pieces for their collections. We are honored to have the opportunity to offer Jack's treasures to everyone on a regular basis in the auctions.
We encourage you to read our blog post at https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection or his profile on the Mineralogical Record website https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/halpernjack/ for more information