Spinel (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

Although specimens from the Lime Crest Quarry are found in the Franklin Marble, this locality is not part of the Franklin Mining District. This locality dates back to 1895 and was actually owned / operated by Thomas Edison in the early 20th centurty. This piece came labeled as "Pleonaste" (an iron-rich variety of Spinel), but those crystals are almost always black and / or opaque, and the crystals on this piece are actually a dark purple hue, and show a slight amount of translucency when backlit. A group of sharp, lustrous octahedral Spinels measuring up to 3 mm across are associated with strong golden-orange Chondrodite on white marble matrix. A good overall specimen of these elusive, yet well-known specimens from New Jersey. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#5819) 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).