Spinel (fine crystals)

Item Description

The Spinel crystals from Mahenge are among the best examples of the species to be found in the last 20+ years in terms of size, color and quality. Many people are familiar with the pink to red Spinels from Mogok in Myanmar, but these Tanzanian crystals are comparably in terms of size, quality and color. This large thumbnail sized piece was found in 2010 and features a few fine quality, sharp, well-formed, euhedral octahedral crystals of strong pinkish-red colored Spinel measuring up to 1.9 cm on edge. The piece displays well from a few angles. The crystals are translucent, when backlit, but they have the added bonus of displaying a slightly "silky" quality, similar to the silk that one would see in a Ruby or Sapphire crystal. This ethereal "smokiness" inside the crystals combined with the attractive color and crystal size makes it some of the best quality crystals of Spinel you will find. No significant damage that I can see with the naked eye, but there are some small areas of interrupted growth where the Spinel crystals grew up against the marble. For a final touch, the Spinels show a dark red fluorescence under UV light.