Vivianite (rare locality specimen) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

A hard to find, showy and aesthetic thumbnail specimen of Vivianite from Baia Mare (formerly Nagybanya) in Romania. A pair of doubly-terminated, sharp, lustrous, very dark green (nearly black) colored crystals of Vivianite are intergrown to create a very attractive overall specimen. It may not be a world-class Vivianite, but it's actually very eye-catching for the locality, as most Vivianites I've seen from this area are broken and not desirable. This piece is very desirable in my mind, and would make a great addition to a thumbnail collection or a suite of Romaninan minerals. It hsould be noted that the label says it's from a place called "Ilba-Handal" which is supposed to be near Nagybanya, but I can't find a listing for this locality in any database. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#4997). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).