Raspite (rare fine crystals)

Item Description

Raspite is a very rare lead tungstate species, first discovered at the Broken Hill Mine in Australia. It was named after Charles Rasp, who actually discovered the Broken Hill deposit. The species is the monoclinic dimorph of Stolzite, and according to the entry on mindat.org, "Heating of raspite to 395(5)°C leads to a transformation into stolzite". This piece features a small vug filled with excellent, lustrous, gemmy, rich golden colored prismatic striated micro crystals of Raspite. The crystals are best seen under magnification, and we've photographed them with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. There are some very minor Stolzite crystals on the reverse side of the specimen, but the focus here is the excellent Raspite crystals. This species is at its best from Broken Hill, despite being found in many other localities in the last 100+ years, though crystals are rarely more than a few mm. A great piece of this fine, old classic material.
From the collection of George Elling, a prominent East Coast collector. The piece also comes with a label from Al McGuinness (who misattributed it to Tuena) and the Trevas Collection.