Magnetite with Carbonate-rich Hydroxylapatite (rare)

Item Description

Typically the Magnetite specimens from this locality are closely grown together, but this piece has good isolation between the crystals. The piece has fine, good size, sharp, lustrous, metallic, black, "Alpine-type" octahedra associated with cream colored feldspar on matrix. The largest Magnetite crystal measures 7 mm across, which is about average size for the locality. The most important aspect of the piece is that features thin hexagonal prismatic cream colored crystals of Carbonate-rich Hydroxylapatite, which is not found in a lot of localities around the world, but the most interesting aspect of the species is that it's actually a constituent of human bones! People have told me that these crystals are of great interest to the biomedical world as they are important for research to match natural crystals with the compounds in our own anatomy. This is one of the better quality specimens of this material that I've offered from this locality in a while, and despite some minor damage, it is an attractive overall piece. Keep in mind, that there are no other localities producing Magnetites of this quality today, and there are few localities in the world that have ever produced Magnetite like this. Though this species is well known to collectors, it is remarkably difficult to obtain such well crystallized, displayable miniature sized specimens such as this one. Priced at $900.