Kinoite (rare) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

The most iconic and recognized specimens of Kinoite are those from the Christmas Mine and a lot of people assume it's the type locality for the species. Kinoite was actually first reported from the Santa Rita Mountains, with no specific mine given. This is a good miniature specimen of this well known calcium copper silicate featuring intense azure Kinoite with the often associated crystals of colorless Fluorapophyllite. The piece looks very nice under high magnification. Kinoite is named after the Italian Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino (1645-1711). You can actually see a statue of him along the Kino Parkway in Tucson. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#7862). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).