Ruby Spinel ("Spinel Twin")

Item Description

Spinels are typically found as single isolated octahedral crystals, but they have an actual crystal twinning habit ("Spinel-Law") named after them, due to the frequency in which it is seen in the species. The twinning is a form of contact twinning, where two individual crystals share a single plane. So you have a pair of octahedrons connected along one plane, and the spot at which the terminations point away from each other is measured at 120 degrees. This "floater" twinned crystal is a classic Burmese "Ruby Spinel" with rather sharp, lustrous faces, but the most interesting aspect of the piece is the fact that it features a "macle" ("Spinel-Law") twin with a lovely gemmy strong red interior color. A great quality twinned crystal for the species. This piece was mined around 2003. The best of these specimens are simply the finest in the world for what they are. This is an example of a non-pegmatite gem mineral for which many collectors probably do not have a good specimen in their collections.