Tarbuttite (superb!)

Item Description

Tarbuttite is normally boring stuff?an often-ugly phosphate disparagingly referred to as a bat-poop mineral (because often it has formed under ancient caves layered with tens of thousands of years of deposition of mineral-rich bat guano).HOWEVER, Skorpion Mine comes to the rescue now! A new find hit the market in 2007, and I consider these transparent, truly gemmy, apple-green crystals to be the best of species for aesthetic quality by an order of magnitude. This is a rich small cabinet piece, solidly formed of tarbuttite, with swerving and wave-like sprays of crystals all over it. It is an OUTSTANDING example of a rare species, and also happens to be aesthetic to the rest of the collectors who do not care about its chemistry per se. The color and luster combination is near unique in the mineral world, with only a few things like hgih quality prehnite coming close to this apearance. As well, it has a high, near-glassy luster - unusual for this phosphate species. I myself paid $1000 for it happily, and I think its worth much more like double that or more, quite frankly.