Okenite on Quartz (ex Al Kidwell Collection)

Item Description

This is a wonderful old-time Okenite specimen from the old Bombay Quarry in India, dating back to the 1970s-1980s. The piece features a beautiful radiating "puffball" of cream colored Okenite, comprising incredibly thin prismatic crystals sitting on soft grey colored Quartz on basalt matrix. It's important to note that Okenite is not a zeolite species, although it can be found in association with zeolites. Additionally, if it were not for the pieces from India, Okenite would be an incredibly rare species, as there is virtually nothing available from other world localities, despite the fact that the species was named in 1828. From the worldwide mineral collection of Albert Lewis Kidwell (January 1, 1919 - August 16, 2008). Al was a well-known mineral collector and research geologist with Carter Oil Company and later Exxon Oil Company in Houston, Texas. The phosphate species Kidwellite was named in his honor in 1974 ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-326405.html ).