Okenite with Gyrolite in pocket
(old classic finds from 1990s!)

Item Description

This specimen is part of the 2020 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, August 24, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

This large pocket of basalt hosts a gorgeous cavity of okenite and gyrolite on a matrix of small crystals of stilbite, quartz, other minerals. This is a mineral world classic! When I was a kid, we saw these at shows and from importers but I have not seen many good ones in a long, long time. Now, things like this only turn up out of old collections. Okenite, natural "hairballs," are part of what fascinated me when I came into minerals. I was 12 when I saw my first one, and bought it immediately. They are unique in all the world and often amaze friends and family more than any "finer" more expensive mineral. That being said, this is actually a REALLY good pocket with aesthetics and nice okenite balls to 3 cm mixed with gyrolite and other minerals; and would have been so even back in the day they came out. Most of them were found and brought to market from near Pune, the older quarries worked in the 1980s and early 1990s, and now under parking lots and buildings. Valued $1500.
Donation from the Richard Mushlitz collection.