|
Mineral Specimens with Ettringite
(click on a page number to go to that page:)
page 11 / 12 - prev - 174 specimens selected - next
4.2 x 2.1 x 1.3 cm. This is a very aesthetic, freestanding cluster of several crystals, with an accent of stark black hausmannite atop. The hausmannite draws the eye to the flat, fine termination. Complete-all-around, this is a really unusual piece, overall. The crystal features soft lemon-yellow color, translucency, and a good surface lustre for this species.
3 x 2.2 x 1 cm. A very aesthetic large thumbnail specimen, one of few apparently saved and complete, featuring a 3-cm, doubly-terminated crystal atop a soft, oyelite-covered knoll of matrix. The crystal features pastel lemon-yellow color, and translucency characteristic of this pocket.
3 x 2.7 x 1.2 cm. A very aesthetic large thumbnail specimen (or small miniature), one of few apparently saved and complete, featuring crossed crystals of soft lemon-yellow color, and translucency characteristic of this pocket.
5.3 x 2.3 x 2.2 cm. A sharp miniature with vivid contrasts. This cluster of upright ettringites is host to a crust of brilliantly sparkling, micro-hausmannite crystals on one side. All is perched on a thin shard of calcite and hausmannite-covered matrix. A really nice, elegant miniature, with good color and translucency, representative of this new find.
4.6 x 2.5 x 2 cm. A robust single crystal, complete-all-around, that exemplifies the qualities of this find: translucency, shimmering surface lustre, and unusual tapering form. It has a pastel lemon-yellow color. It is hard to explain or convey in pictures, but there is a certain ethereal quality to these specimens that makes the crystals look "soft" and unusual compared to most other large crystalline species. And, this is a rather large example for this species.
4.1 x 1.6 x 1.6 cm. A robust single crystal, complete-all-around, that exemplifies the qualities of this find: translucency, shimmering surface lustre, and unusual tapering form. It has a pastel lemon-yellow color. It is hard to explain or convey in pictures, but there is a certain ethereal quality to these specimens that makes the crystals look "soft" and unusual compared to most other large crystalline species. Tim Blackwood Collection.
7 x 5.6 x 5 cm. This is a superb, pyramidal cluster of 3 intergrown crystals to 7 cm in height, leaning in upon one another to create what looks like a work of sculpture more than a mineral. This piece has superb lemon yellow color, and combined with its translucency is almost ghostly in effect. It has a medium lustre typical of this pocket but more lustrous than most of the species, and exemplifies the robust, tapered crystal form of this find. It is a world class example of a very rare species.
9 x 6 x 5 cm. This piece is perhaps the most starkly aesthetic and sculptural of the lot, with a single dramatic, lemon yellow crystal just flying up off the matrix, braced in its freefall by a little crossbar crystal. That crystal is the sharpest in the lot, as well....very equant, and very complete-all-around with no damage or dings. It is 4 cm long, 1.5 cm thick. The matrix is hausmannite and hematite, coated by a rich carpet of soft oyelite.
Small cabinet. Three major crystals dominate the top of this matrix plate of hausmannite, smothered by a soft carpet of oyelite. The two frontal crystals are 4 cm long, and a 5 cm crystal runs under them, linking them all together in a chain of color. A larger, thicker, broken-off crystal is a backstop at the base of the cluster.
4 x 3.7 x 2.7 cm. A truly outstanding, lemon yellow crystal measuring 4 x 1.7 x 1.5 cm, perched against a matrix of hausmannite makes for one of the more impactful and memorable miniatures we’ve seen. The black on yellow color contrast is really stark and exciting, and I think overall the balance of the two species makes the piece special. Pristine, complete-all-around, this is a fine miniature.
9 x 7.5 x 3 cm. Only a very few specimens in this pocket seem to have caught the nearby hematite crystals and come out in association. This piece is dramatic. It features a doubly-terminated 4.4-cm crystal, inset with a small cluster of glistening jet black hausmannite, on the hematite-covered plate. On the other side, it is covered by soft white oyelite, so either side offers great contrast for the display of the specimen. The hematites, to 1.7 cm, are mirror-bright, so shiny and reflective you can shave in them. This is a unique piece from a unique pocket, with singular aesthetics.
4 x 3.2 x 2.3 cm. A nice, 3.6 cm tall crystal perched nicely on a little shard of manganese gossan matrix makes this a fine miniature. The crystal is lemon yellow, translucent, and complete-all-around, an excellent example of this style and pocket.
19 x 13 x 11 cm. This is a huge specimen, with more ettringite in one place than I have ever seen. It is really subtle in its beauty, with oyelite between the cracks in the crystals, providing a white web-work background on which the powder-lemon-yellow crystals stand out all the more dramatically. There is some damage to the edges of the large crystal cluster, where peripheral-facing tips are missing or there is a contact point. But the core cluster is very 3-dimensional, gemmy, and capped by the best terminated crystal: The large crystal in the middle is 10 cm tall, and has a freestanding termination. Charlesite is a close relative of sturmanite and ettringite, and my understanding is that most crystals of either of the two yellow and more common species are actually zoned, and are thus partial charlesite. However, this crystal seems to have a pure, clear core which I suspect is charlesite, perhaps pure (not analysed). Unusual, in any case. Even more than on other specimens in this lot, many crystals here appear to consist of a white charlesite crystal with an outer layer of powdery-lemon-yellow ettringite atop, from what I am given to understand about how these species form in a related series. The outer layer of colored ettringite is very thin, less than 1 mm, and most of this crystal is therefore clear and colorless. These larger crystals (but not the smaller ones) are slightly etched and matte compared to other crystals in this pocket, perhaps part of the phenomena revealing the clear cores. I am sure all in this pocket are zoned in some degree to charlesite and/or sturmanite; but this one is distinctly different, with the totally clear core showing so nicely. The backside of the specimen has hausmannite, hematite, and oyelite. 1.3 kilograms.
3.2 x 2.2 x 1.5 cm. A robust single crystal, complete all around, that exemplifies the qualities of this find: translucency, shimmering surface lustre, and unusual tapering form. It has a pastel lemon-yellow color. It is hard to explain or convey in pictures, but there is a certain ethereal quality to these specimens that makes the crystals look "soft" and unusual compared to most other large crystalline species.
3.6 x 1.2 x 1.2 cm. A slender single crystal, complete-all-around, that exemplifies the qualities of this find: translucency, shimmering surface lustre, and unusual tapering form. It has a pastel lemon-yellow color. It is hard to explain or convey in pictures, but there is a certain ethereal quality to these specimens that makes the crystals look "soft" and unusual compared to most other large crystalline species.
(click on a page number to go to that page:)
page 11 / 12 - prev - 174 specimens selected - next
Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
All Content and Design ©1996-2012 The Arkenstone
Mineral Specimens by species; or
by specimen id.
|
share specimen![Ettringite, Hausmannite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279130a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279130a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279132a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279132a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279133a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279133a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Hausmannite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279134a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279134a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279135a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279135a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279136a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279136a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279137a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279137a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Hausmannite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279138a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279138a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite, Hausmannite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279139a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279139a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Hausmannite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279140a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279140a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Hausmannite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279140b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279140b.jpg)
![Ettringite, Hematite, Calcite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279142a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279142a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279143a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279143a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279144a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279144a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279145a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279145a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279146a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279146a.jpg)