Sapphirine (NOT Sapphire) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

A VERY hard to find example of the rare magnesium aluminum silicate Sapphirine (not Sapphire) from Voronkafotra, Betroka, Madagascar. This specimen features one of the sharpest, most complete and well-formed crystals I've seen from any locality in Madagascar. It measures 1.6 cm across and has a deep blue color with that classic pseudo-hexagonal (monoclinic) tabular habit sitting on Mica matrix. The piece was mined circa 1960 and I would say it's the best one you can find on the market. Very good quality all around and impossible to find another like. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#8689). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).