Pectolite (rare locality specimen) (ex Jersey City Museum Collection)

Item Description

When it comes to zeolite species from the New Jersey Trap Rocks, specimens from Bergen Hill are incredibly hard to find. The area referred to as Bergen Hill dates back to the early 20th century, and covers a series of railroad cuts, tunnels and quarries in both Hudson and Bergen Counties. Many specimens labeled from Bergen Hill date back about 100 years. This small cabinet display specimen features a couple of radial "sprays" consisting of silvery colored needle-like crystals of Pectolite lying flat against the black diabase matrix. The largest individual crystal measures 4.6 cm long. It's an unusual style for Pectolite from New Jersey, as we're often used to seeing spherical "balls" and not flat "sprays" like this. The piece comes from the collection of Bob Batic, a well-known New Jersey zeolite collector along with a label from the Jersey City Museum Collection that states it was part of the Van Beuren Collection.