Prehnite

Item Description

The quarry at Upper New Street in Paterson, New Jersey dates back well over 100 years old, as it originally opened in 1893. Fast forward to the mid 1980s and into to the early 1990s, there was a lot of collecting that took place between the Upper New Street and Lower Street Quarries in an area that is affectionately referred to by some as "Middle New Street". The majority of the specimens from this area are still labeled as being found at Upper New Street even though they were not found in the quarry itself. This specimen consists of a classic group of globular aggregates Prehnite with colors ranging from a vivid "water green" hue to a darker almost "blue" color due to what I believe is a thin layer of Pumpellyite-(Mg) underneath the Prehnite, above the basalt matrix. Overall the piece is in decent shape, but there are a few obvious contacts, so it's not pristine. Still a colorful and eye-catching full-sized cabinet piece of this classic material. These pieces are no longer being quarried and will remain as some of the most recognized Prehnites of any kind from any US locality.