Muscovite with Dolomite and Fluorapatite

Item Description

A classic specimen from the famed Crabtree Quarry in North Carolina featuring a predominant, sharp, very well-formed, deep greenish-black hexagonal group of Muscovite measuring 1.8 cm across, associated with several smaller Muscovite crystals along with little rhombic golden Dolomite crystals and a bit of Baryte on matrix. The first species listed on the label is Fluorapatite, and the ONLY crystal I could find is a TINY (less than 1 mm), colorless modified crystal, and no others, even after about 10 minutes looking closely under the microscope. The main focus of the specimen is certainly the Muscovite crystals, which are well-known from this locality for their excellent form. The piece sits beautifully on its own and is a great display quality specimen of these now lesser seen pieces from this well-known locality.
From the collection of Norman Kennedy ("Kenny") Gay (1953-2023), a geologist, geoscience educator and mineral collector from North Carolina. (#M34 E.14). Kenny worked for North Carolina Geological Survey starting 1995, and he was a member of the adjunct faculty at Wesleyan College, and a professor of geology since 2001. He assembled a large collection of worldwide minerals specimens, though he focused mainly on minerals of North Carolina. Kenny did substantial work documenting all of the significant mineral occurrences and mining/mineral collecting in North Carolina. He might be best associated with the Redmond Mine, where the rare extremely rare lead sulfate Kennygayite was discovered and named in his honor in 2022. Kenny was the first person to collect specimens at this locality, which lead Jason Smith to take an interest in this assemblage, and later name a mineral in Kenny's honor.