Hydroboracite (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

A wonderful "snowball"-esque radial group of beautifully crystallized Hydroboracite from the Boraxo Mine near Ryan, California. This hydrated calcium magnesium borate is not often seen in good crystallized examples, and the pieces from this locality are some of the best-known and finest quality Hydroboracites out there. This specimen is loaded with hundreds of thin, prismatic crystals which are translucent with a cream color when backlit. The crystals show gorgeous "sword"-shaped monoclinic terminations up close. You don't see "balls" of this size and quality from this locality, so if you collect borates or minerals of California, don't miss out on this fine small cabinet display specimen from this defunct mine. This locality closed in 1977, so the piece is at least 40 years old. From the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016). David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered.