Zircon (rare color and locality)

Item Description

Brazil is known for producing a large number of mineral species, from common to notably rare, but most of what people associate with Brazil comes from pegmatites. The Poços de Caldas alkaline complex is a large structure measuring about 30 km in diameter (according to mindat.org) in the far southwestern part of Minas Gerais, Brazil (and actually crosses into the state of Sao Paolo). This area has produced over 150 mineral species, including these distinctive and very hard to find Zircons. Most Zircon crystals you'll find are typically on the warmer end of the spectrum in terms of colors, but these particular specimen are notably GREEN, which is a fairly rare hue for Zircon, especially in crystal form. This thumbnail specimen features many very sharp, highly lustrous, well-formed, beautiful yellow-green colored pyramidal crystals of Zircon measuring to about 2 mm, sitting on oxidized matrix. The crystals are best seen under magnification, and we've photographed them with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. A very hard to find specimen both in terms of the locality and the color, don't miss out.
From the collection of Colin Manlove.