Ludlamite (good sized crystals) (rare locality)

Item Description

Ludlamite is a rare iron phosphate that is rarely seen in fine crystals, but from a few mines in the world. Bolivia has been producing fine specimens of Ludlamite for many years, primarily from the Huanuni Mine, but several years ago the Colavi Mine (located further south of Huanuni) produced some fine quality, interesting and unique Ludlamites, that are very different from the specimens from Huanuni. Originally we were told that these Ludlamites were coming out of the Canutillos Mine, and/or the Estano Orcko Mine, which are neighbors to the Colavi Mine, and often these mines are interconnected underground anyway, so it's hard to determine where one mine stops and another starts. This particular piece is a great display specimen of this remarkably rare iron phosphate consisting of excellent, good sized, sharp, blocky, translucent, beautiful green color, monoclinic crystals of Ludlamite with brown rhombic Siderite and Pyrite underneath. The largest Ludlamite crystal measures 1.4 cm long, which is very good sized for the locality. The specimen is in excellent condition and displays wonderfully as you can see from the photos. There are truly about 5 localities in the world the produce fine crystallized Ludlamite specimens (i.e., Cornwall, Santa Eulalia, Trepca, Blackbird Mine in Idaho), and ALL of them, except for those in Bolivia and now defunct (though Trepca seems to be producing material again now). PLEASE NOTE: These pieces are in very short supply, and we were only able to acquire a handful of pieces, and this is the one of the best specimens of this material that we have to offer.
The specimen is from Brian Kosnar, valued $2,500, and if you shop around you'll see that even the Bolivian dealers are starting to ask crazy prices for even poor quality Ludlamites.