Prehnite (classic material)

Item Description

The Prospect Quarry, lies about 20 miles west of Sydney and according to the entry on mindat.org it, "has probably contributed more crushed rock (blue metal) for road and building construction in the Sydney region than any other similar locality". The quarry started in 1820 and closed nearly 200 years later in 2010. The most well-known mineral to come from the quarry is Prehnite, and this piece is a nice example of said material. This small cabinet sized piece hosts light golden colored somewhat radial groups of translucent Prehnite measuring up to 1.0 cm across on minor matrix. If you look near the base of the piece, the color actually changes to a soft "water green" hue. A really wonderful example of this classic, yet, fairly hard to find material. Certainly these specimens will be much harder to find now that the quarry is closed.
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 ).