Sugilite (rare locale) (ex Francesco Bedogne Collection)

Item Description

A classic and rare example of intense reddish-purple Sugilite (pronounced with a hard "g") featuring a 1.3 cm patch on matrix. The species was named after Ken-ichi Sugi, and it's almost always mispronounced, but should properly be said with a hard "g" as in "gold". The Wessels Mine has produced what are the finest examples of the species extant, but fine examples (especially micro crystals) exist from the Cerchiara Mine in Italy. From the worldwide collection of famed Italian mineral collector, field collector and author, Francesco Bedogne of Sondrio, Italy (Collection #1429). 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.