Rutile (fine doubly-terminated crystal) (ex Henry de Linde Collection)

Item Description

Graves Mountain is a classic old Dana locale, and although it was mined for Kyanite, but it best known for producing some of the most impressive crystals of Rutile from anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. They are notably thick and robust, as compared to most other Rutile crystals, which are often very thin and "needle"-like. This specimen is a superb, hefty, blocky, doubly-terminated prism of deep reddish-brown Rutile with a tiny bit of attached matrix on the back. The piece is complete all around, but I wouldn't say it's a complete "floater" due to the minor amount of matrix. I love the complex, multi-stepped termination on the top of the piece, which plays nicely against the contrasting, tetragonal pyramidal termination on the other end. No damage of note that I can see, and it's important to stress that this is a large crystal for the locality, as they are typically only about 1-2 cm, and rarely over 4-5 cm. I would put this one in the $1,500-$2,000 range for the size, quality and the fact that good doubly-terminated examples like this are nearly impossible to find on the market these days. From the collection of Henry de Linde (March 21, 1923 – April 4, 2019) of Hot Spring, Arkansas. Henry was one of the most prominent figures in the history of Arkansas mining and mineral collecting. Along with being a miner, mineral collector and an amateur mineralogist, de Linde was one of the founders of the Coon Creek Association mineral club. He was the owner of several key localities in Arkansas including the Diamond Jo Quarry (on the south rim of Magnet Cove), the type locality for Delindeite, which was named in his honor in 1987.