Hydroxylapatite coating Tarbuttite (rare) (fluorescent)

Item Description

The Skorpion Mine in Namibia is a fairly new zinc operation, which started in 2000. It has in recent years been the source of some attractive zinc-bearing mineral such as Tarbuttite. Typically Tarbuttite is not terribly attractive, as the crystals are often white / colorless, but the specimens from this locality have a gorgeous soft green hue due to a coating of Hydroxylapatite. Now it should be noted that I have seen some of these specimens labeled as being pseudomorphs of Apatite replacing Tarbuttite, but analysis has shown that they are overgrown by a layer of Hydroxylapatite, but the original green Tarbuttite is still present underneath. With that said, this cabinet is filled with superb, quality attractive, triangular shaped crystals measuring up to 7 mm long, forming attractive "fan" shapes, sitting on thin layer of matrix. Tiny, glistening colorless gemmy crystals of Hemimorphite can be seen on top of the Tarbuttites for a nice touch. The piece is in excellent shape with no major damage on the top / display side. I had a lot of fun looking at this piece with a loupe, as the crystallization is excellent up close. The piece shows rich green fluorescence under SW UV ligth