Sussexite (very rare)

Item Description

This stone is certainly one of the largest Sussexite gems that we've had to offer in the auctions. To the best of my knowledge, the only lapidary grade Sussexites are found in the Franklin Mining District, and this piece is a great example of said material. With the hundreds of species found at Franklin and Sterling Hill, there are only a few that are worthy to yield cut stones. A few that come to mind are Willemite, Zincite and Friedelite. Most species from Franklin are either too rare, too devoid of color or just too small to even consider cutting into gems. Sussexite is a relatively rare borate and is the manganese analogue of Szaibelyite. The material is rarely faceted into gems. This stone has a soft creamy mauve hue with incredibly consistency throughout (no banding or zoning from other species). The gem is translucent around the edges when backlit, and has a "Cushion" cut. This is definitely in the rare category, and with such an unusual color, it's a great stone for rare gem collectors.
From the collection of Jim Houran, and originally from Herb Obodda. The stone comes with a paper from The Gem Trader verifying its authenticity.