Riebeckite var. Crocidolite (rare - old) Kidwell Coll.

Item Description

Mineral specimens are RARE from this historic old granite quarry opened in 1826. This was the USA's first large scale granite quarrying operation (mindat). The last active quarry closed in 1963. This is a rare old LARGE elongated specimen of blue-gray fibrous Riebeckite variety Crocidolite. This material is perhaps the worst perpetrator of asbestos lung disease. Ex Al Kidwell Collection and acquired from Gunnar Bjareby in 1940. 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.