Spinel with Chondrodite

Item Description

Going back to the early 2000s, the marble gem tracts around the Luc Yen District in Vietnam have produced some impressive Spinel crystals. These attractive pieces are easily some of the largest individual Spinel crystals to come out of any locality, as I've seen individual crystals as large as 10+ cm. Their value is increased even more by the fact that the crystals are found on matrix, which is not terribly common for Spinel, especially from famous localities like Mogok, Myanmar or Mahenge, Tanzania. This attractive small cabinet pieces hosts a several beautiful, lustrous, translucent octahedral crystals of dark purple Spinel, with the largest crystal measuring 1.5 cm sitting with associated translucent, dark orange colored Chondrodite with a bit of light bronzy colored Phlogopite and minor white marble matrix. The largest crystal group of Chondrodite measures about 3.5 cm at its widest dimension. My favorite aspect of the Spinel crystals is their sharpness, as many crystals from this locality can be somewhat rounded or crude looking. With backlighting, the color of the Spinel crystals is a lovely pinkish purple hue, not as dark a purple color as it appears in reflected light. The piece is highly aesthetic and is one of the best combo specimens of this material that we've had to offer in the auctions. Priced at $2,450 in the inventory.