Vesuvianite (fine crystals)

Item Description

Vesuvianite is a fairly well-known mineral, but it's not easy to find attractive display specimens. Some of the most well-known examples of the species are the beautiful pieces from Bellecombe in the Italian Alps. Going back to the late 2000s, there was a discovery of some excellent Vesuvianite specimens at the "Alpine-type" cleft locality at Hashupa in the Shigar Valley of Pakistan. The crystals on these specimens are similar to their Italian cousins as they are blocky, well-formed and notably striated on the prism faces. This piece features very attractive sharp, lustrous, dark "root beer" colored prisms of Vesuvianite up to 1.7 cm on matrix. With some strong backlighting, the edges of the crystals show a bit of gemminess. Most of the crystals are in good shape, but there are a few spots of damage, so the piece is not 100% pristine. Still a very good quality example of these hard to find Vesuvianites from Pakistan. Priced at $950 in the inventory.