Spodumene (GEM crystal) (ex Richard Kosnar Collection)

Item Description

A beautiful crystal of GEM quality yellow Spodumene from the Resplendor, Brazil. The piece is actually doubly-terminated, though crudely and it flows in and out of smooth crystal faces and really graceful hydrothermal etching. This piece came from the collection of the well-known mineral dealer and collector, Richard Kosnar (1946-2007) who was the namesake for mineral species, Kosnarite. Rich personally brought this piece back from Brazil in the 1970s – circa 1973-1974, when he was actively importing Brazilian minerals. It's almost certain that this piece was purchased based upon its gram weight, as it was almost certainly sold as a piece of gem rough and not a mineral specimen. I’m surprised that it survived the Brazilian cutting factories back in the day as pieces like this were immediately destroyed and cut into gemstones. Specimen weight is 123.26 grams. For what it's worth, a very conservative guess is that this piece could yield 100 carats of faceted stones, at a minimum of $30/carat, so there is approximately $3,000 (at retail prices) worth of gem material in this crystal.