Rutile (2-piece set) (classic material) (1800s)

Item Description

Hiddenite, North Carolina is best known for its amazing gem crystals, including the green variety of Spodumene of the same name. Incidentally, the town was named after the mineral variety, which was named in honor of a mining engineer and collector named William Hidden. Additionally, the finest Emeralds in North American are also found in this area, but there are many other associated minerals that have been reported from Hiddenite, including some well-known Rutile crystals. Here we have a 2-piece set of Rutile crystals from Hiddenite, one a single prism with high luster and a deep red metallic hue that is best seen when backlit (the crystal is fairly gemmy), and the second showing classic twinning at a 60 degree angle, with a tiny bit of attached Quartz. The label attached to the back of the box states that these crystals were mined circa 1880-1882, and the label goes on to mention the great mineralogist and mineral collector, George Kunz with the year 1907, but I don't know if this means that these pieces were acquired by Kunz in this year, or perhaps there was a publication / article that Kunz wrote which mentions Hiddenite or specifically the Rutile crystals found there in 1907. Nonetheless, these are attractive old antiques and certainly worth picking up for anybody who collects minerals of North Carolina, worldwide Rutile or general classics.