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Mineral Specimens with Papagoite
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This is a razor-sharp crystal with a termination so sharp you can literally cut yourself on it. The quartz hosts an internal phantom generation of quartz, that is richly included by deep blue papagoite. Now, often the inclusions are dispersed in the quartz , but seldom do you see a phantom within. Here, the phantom somehow concentrated the papagoite, so that the papagoite marks the entire right edge of the original phantom crystal inside. The crystal is complete all around, and shows extraordinary clarity looking through to the phantom zone within. I have seen literally hundreds of these, and in this size range, few have stood out to me as starkly as this piece, which I saw at the Munich show with a direct source (these few i offer here all apparently came from the same pocket, as they are similar in size and unusual sharpness and transparency). Moreover, it is complete and sharp, and shows off the inclusions without need of polishing.
This is a type locality specimen , and a very rich one at that, of papagoite from the New Cornelia Mine, Ajo, Arizona. It is handsized, nearly cabinet in size class. Although the crystals are individually micros, there is a huge and rich carpet of them upon matrix, on a dark vein of the same material. The piece is also sprinkled with aquamarine-blue ajoite microcrystals amidst the papagoite. Ajoite was discovered in 1958 and papagoite was discovered in 1960 at this locality. This must have come out at or near that time, as it comes with a label from the Valluzzo collection, on which is hadnwritten the note "new species." A good combo specimen of these very rare species! Today, one can get specimens of each, but generally only as inclusions within quartz from South Africa's Messina Mine.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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