Vanadinite with Descloizite (rare old location, early 1900s)

Item Description

An impressive highly skewed terminated hexagonal vanadinite crystal from this well-known extinct Pb-Zn-V mine in Namibia. The lustrous and robust vanadinite is reddish-brown. These crystals typically have a alteration coating of microcrystalline yellow-brown descloizite, as is the case here. Abenab opened in 1922 and closed in 1958. The mine is the source of the world's largest vanadinite crystals, up to 14.0 cm long! See the 1997 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 28, No. 2. This is a good sized, pristine and excellent combination crystal from the locale. For those who want the older, mre rare material, this is not your Moroccon red vanadinite, but is perhaps more interesting.