Set: Praseodymium, Neodymium, Europium, Samarium, Erbium-containing crystals

Item Description

This specimen is part of the 2020 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, August 24, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

  This set of gorgeous single crystals was made prior to 2010 in a lab in Germany, and it is just a visual and intellectual item for fun. It features synthetic crystals of the rare earth salts of these REE elements. Here we have: praseodymium sulfate (lime green: very close chemically to a synthetic version of the reported mineral species texasite, which is praseodymium oxysulfate but was later shown to be lab-made as well), neodymium sulphate (deep neon red-pink), europium sulphate (white), samarium sulphate (intense neon yellow), and erbium acetate (the pink, flattish crystal shown with two different colors here). It is interesting to see that texasite can actually be made to look beautiful, because in nature it looks a lot like green pond scum. The erbium crystal (the elongated crystal at the top of the set in the group photo, 3.5 cm tall for scale) is astonishingly hard to photograph and changes color in every kind of light you try to use. The photos shown for that crystal are fluorescent, and halogen versions. The others look the same, more or less, in different lighting. Interestingly regarding Texasite: 

we have been told to point out that “texasite” is not in the end a naturally occurring mineral species and has shown to be artificial (made by William Crook III). Crook didn’t steal his name… In retrospect it is unbelievable that the IMA accepted this as a new species because chemical compounds of a (near) “pure” RE don’t exist in nature and they should have known so. So this is as close as we can get to one, for now!

  I have not seen these before or since, I saw a few example sets with Alfredo Petrov at a show once (Munich, perhaps) around 2010. What is this worth? Who knows?! You can try to make them at home from kits, and I see small tiny examples online. I was told that these larger crystals took a large amount of time and skill to get them to grow properly and orient on the crystal axes you see here to make big, beautiful crystals. Lost for a decade, found during this summer with time to sit and unpack old rocks...As a fun mineral-associated set, what is the value of this? hard to say!

Donated by Rob Lavinsky/Arkenstone.