Uvarovite (classic material)

Item Description

This specimen was labeled as coming from the Biserskoye Chromium Deposit (Bissersk) in Russia, but it's clearly from the Saranovskii Mine based upon the color and style of the crystals along with the characteristic matrix. With that said, it's a fine example of these iconic Uvarovites, a chromium-bearing species (not a variety) of Garnet that is only found in a handful of world localities in good display specimens. This piece is loaded with dozens if not hundreds of fine quality, sparkling, tiny, deep emerald green colored dodecahedral crystals of Uvarovite measuring up to about 2 mm, sitting on Chromite matrix. We've photographed the tiny crystals with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. In the mid to late 1990s, there were a decent amount of these specimens on the market, but nothing has been found in years, and you rarely seen pieces of this size available on the market today.
From the collection of Jack Halpern No. 3798. Jack was born May 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, but has been a long-time resident of San Francisco. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the world encompassing over 3,200 specimens with a specific emphasis on color, quality, and style/aesthetics, which is evident in every piece. He admired specimens of all sizes from thumbnails to large cabinets and the vast majority of them rank from fine to world-class in their quality.
Above all else, Jack is considered to be the greatest gentleman in the modern era of mineral collecting. He is beloved by all those who have met him, and he truly is one of the most iconic figures in the mineral world. We recently acquired Jack's collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality pieces for their collections. We are honored to have the opportunity to offer Jack's treasures to everyone on a regular basis in the auctions.
We encourage you to read our blog post at https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection or his profile on the Mineralogical Record website https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/halpernjack/ for more information