Sodalite (var: Hackmanite) (fluorescent) on Calcite (ex Francesco Bedogne Collection)

Item Description

These Sodalite (var: Hackmanite) specimens have provided collectors with some amazing pieces featuring some of the largest, sharpest and most colorful crystals ever seen. The colors of the Afghani Hackmanites ranges from blue to purple to pink and they show an amazing fluorescence under longwave UV light. This specimen features excellent, well-formed, sharp, rich purple color Hackmanite crystals measuring up to 2.1 cm sitting on slightly yellowish colored Calcite matrix. The Hackmanites are good sized for the material, and actually show decent translucency when backlit. We have photographed the specimen uder SW UV light, and the Hackmanites show a whitish yellow hue to the naked eye, but for some reason the camera shows more of a greenish-blue color! Under LW UV light, the crystal are a soft pink color with orange highlights. A colorful and attractive overall specimen of this material which has not appeared on the market for a few years now in any significance. Don't miss out on this one as the locality might be nearly exhausted since very few new specimens have found their way out of the ground. Valued at $1800. From the worldwide collection of famed Italian mineral collector, field collector and author, Francesco Bedogne of Sondrio, Italy (Collection #2291). Bedogne wrote dozens of articles and several books about the mineralogy of Italian Alpine localities such as Val Bregaglia, Val Masino, Val Codera, Val Spluga, Valtellina and the famous Val Malenco. He was also the founder of the Valtellinese Mineralogical Institute.