Muscovite (chromium-bearing) (fine rare locality specimen)

Item Description

The Adams Mine (sometimes known as the Alexander prospect or Abernathy prospect) is the source of not only the famous Hiddenite crystals, but also some of the most beautiful Emeralds from anywhere in North America. This piece is the best example of Muscovite that we've ever had to offer from this locality. This beautiful small cabinet display specimen is not only fine quality, but it features excellent, incredibly well-formed, gemmy, lustrous, textbook hexagonal blades measuring up to 3.5 cm across sitting on additional smaller Muscovite crystal matrix. The color when viewed on the broadside of the crystals is a greenish-brown hue, but when the crystals are viewed along the thin edge with some strong backlighting, you'll see a fantastic intense green hue! This color is due to the presence of chromium, (the same chromophore that causes the green color in Hiddenite and Emerald), but you almost never see Muscovite crystals like this from North Carolina. Along with the color, my favorite aspect of this piece is that the crystals are not a tightly huddles "mass", but they're actually quite well-isolated and FREE-STANDING! Even without the strong chrome green color, this would be a wonderful specimen for its aesthetics alone. There are a few contacted areas, but for what it is, this piece is a highly desirable and fine quality example from a classic locality, so a little damage is more than forgivable. Don't miss out on this fantastic and showy specimen that would make a superb addition to a suite of worldwide Mica specimens, minerals of North Carolina, or just pretty display specimens.