Zircon (rare locality)

Item Description

A very hard to find Zircon specimen from the Fort-Dauphin area, on the southeast coast of Madagascar. While this locality is well-known, it's quite difficult to find specimens available on the market. This piece is a nice representative Zircon featuring a few very sharp and highly lustrous pyramidal crystals of a rich orange-brown hue measuring up to 1.3 cm, sitting in a vug on matrix. The crystals are slightly translucent when backlit. I can't remember seeing any Zircon as glassy as this from Fort-Dauphin. There are some dings on the big crystal, so it's not damage free, but it's largely in good shape. The label accompanying the piece states that there is Monazite on the specimen, and I found a small pale pink colored crystal that COULD be Monazite, but it's not confirmed (see 2nd photo). I can see some tiny bladed Albite crystals on the piece however. Under SW UV light, the Zircon fluoresces a yellow-orange color and the Albite shows a pinkish-red color. From the collection of Colin Manlove.