Mica / Sericite pseudomorph after Cordierite-Indialite ("Cherry Blossom") (RARE MATRIX piece)

Item Description

This is a wonderful, fine quality and notably hard to find specimen of these distinctive, locally famous and yet elusive "cherry blossom" pseudomorphs from Kameoka City in Japan. I have never seen this specific type of pseudomorph outside of this locality, as these specimens are unique in the fact that they are replacements of silvery-golden Muscovite Mica (variety "Sericite") after trapiche habit Cordierite-Indialite. Cordierite and Indialite are dimorphous species, and Indialite forms at higher temperatures, which is seen in the form of the thin dark hexagonal lines forming the "spokes" of the pseudomorphs, and they eventually cooled down to a lower temperature and became the lighter colored Cordierite throughout. This replacement creates a very beautiful pattern, which is rather similar to the famous "Trapiche" Habit seen in minerals like Corundum, Beryl and Tourmaline. This shape is sometimes locally referred to as "sakura ishi" (cherry blossom stones) because they resemble the famous Japanese cherry blossoms. Now the name of this material has a bit of a confusing history, because it was originally described by Kikuchi as "Cerasite" which was the name for the trapiche habit of Cordierite, which possibly coincidentally lead to confusion about the origin of the name Sericite. These pieces are well-known from Japan, but rarely seen on the market, and collecting has been forbidden in the area to the best of my knowledge. The majority of these crystals measure about 5 - 6 mm in diameter, and are almost found as singles which weather out of hornfels typically, so they're rarely seen on matrix. THIS PIECE however is an exceptionally rare MATRIX specimen of this classic material, featuring a very well-formed pseudomorph with sharp internal lines measuring 8 mm long, which is good sized for the material. It's incredibly rare to find such well-formed, defined pseudomorphs like this ON MATRIX like this, and if you collect Japanese minerals or rare pseudomorphs, or just odd niche specimens, don't pass this one up.
From the collection of David E Ziga, a geologist who graduated Miami (of Ohio) University in 2017, with a mineralogy background.