Opal var: Opal-AN (''Blood Vessel Opal'') (fluorescent)

Item Description

Here we have a very attractive miniature sized specimen of what used to be called "Hyalite Opal". The material is now classified as Opal-AN (a variety of Opal), which refers to the physical shape of the Opal, composed of tiny spherical aggregates (called nanospheres) measuring to approximately 5 nm. The distinguishing aspect of these nanospheres is that they are differently-sized, so they form the "bead"-like groups. This piece is from a discovery in January 2019 from the little-known Étienne Mine, a small and fairly new locality in San Luis Potosi. These pieces are being mined by a friend of ours who has been working for the past few years by hand to extract them from the deposit. This locality has produced some of the most distinctive and attractive pieces of Opal-AN you'll find. This piece hosts gemmy to translucent, spherical groups or "balls" of Hyalite which are essentially colorless but they rarely seen small inclusions of iron oxide, creating deep orange and red hues, that resemble capillaries, giving this material the nickname "Blood Vessel Opal". Opal-AN is known for being brilliantly fluorescent, and the more colorless areas of this piece show a fantastic green hue when exposed to SW UV light, but the more reddish shades don't really fluoresce. These specimens are very limited on the market, and certainly worth picking up for anybody who collects Mexican minerals, worldwide Opals or fluorescent minerals. Don't miss out on this beautiful eye-catching display specimen of this attractive material.