Lazurite pseudomorph after Scapolite (excellent !) (ex Bill and Anne Cook Collection)

Item Description

This is something that you almost never seen in the mineral world. If you missed out on the other specimen of this material that we offered in the auctions a few weeks ago, now is your chance to get your hands on another one. This is the ONLY other example we have to offer, so don't miss out. This piece is an incredibly rare pseudomorph of soft blue Lazurite replacing a crystal of Scapolite from Badakhshan, Afghanistan (presumably from somewhere near Sar-e-Sang). The single most impressive aspect of the piece is that it's incredibly SHARP and well-formed, perfectly preserving the prismatic crystal form of the original Scapolite. The majority of the faces are so distinct, you just don't see pseudomorphs like this where the original crystal form is so amazingly well-preserved. It's even lustrous to boot! If you collect pseudomorphs or just beautiful specimens, this is something that you might not see again on the market anytime soon, so don't pass up the chance to get your hands on a really top notch example of this elusive material. For reference, recently over the last several years, Lazurite was discredited as a valid mineral species, and was being classified as a sulfide-bearing variety of Hauyne. Thankfully in 2021, Lazurite has been reinstated, so we can now resume labeling all of our Lazurite specimens accurately. This piece was priced at $2,200 in our inventory. From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio. This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.