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Mineral Specimens with Spodumene
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A huge, GEM-quality kunzite crystal! It is terminated, and while it has contact on one side where removed from the pocket, and a small cleave along one edge, in general it is in great condition, as you can see, and has stunning appeal for its fine color, size and form. It is anyones guess how many fine stones you could cut from a crystal of this size and quality - though I hope it will not be cut! The color is not subtle - this an impressive specimen! 12.7 x 6.3 x 3.2 cm
5.3 x 2.3 x 0.8 cm. A sculptural and beautiful doubly-terminated floater crystal of kunzite, gemmy from top to bottom, complete-all-around. The flattened crystal features interesting scalloped modifications on the faces. The color is a very pretty light lilac. This fine and impressive gem crystal weighs 12 grams. Classic material.
12.9 x 3.4 x 2.5 cm. Kunzite from the famous Pala Chief has always been the most intense and desired of San Diego kunzite localities (and San Diego is the type locality in fact, for this variety of spodumene, dating back to around 1900). This is a large, elongated crystal showing pointed, elongated terminations at each end; though there is a little damage if one looks very closely at the details of the complex crystallization there. It is extremely gemmy and transparent, and although a nice pink in normal lighting, it glows hot pink when lit with light aligned down the c-axis. Such crystals are rare today, generally coming out of old collections. Weighs 121 grams.
9.5 x 8.0 x 7.5 cm. A striking, most unusual combination specimen from the pegmatites of Konar Province, Afghanistan. A very sharp, gemmy, glassy, 5.5 cm wide, vivid pink morganite crystal has an unusual base/core of pretty blue aquarmarine. Surrounding this morganite/aquamarine crystal is a cluster of purple indicolite crystals, glassy, colorless spodumene prisms to 5.1 cm, smoky quartz crystals and cleavelandite blades; all on a matrix of massive albite. The termination of the morganite is pristine. The morganite is excellent quality and the morganite/aquamarine crystal itself, is actually very rare. A dramatic and rare combination specimen from this noted locale.
7.3 x 1.2 x 0.6 cm. A gemmy, water-clear, lightly etched, doubly terminated triphane (yellow-green spodumene) from the Beebe Hole Mine in rural San Diego County. This waxy lustre crystal has very light yellow-green color. The C-axis terminations highlight the subtle yellow-green color. Specimens of this quality were produced from 1974-1986. Ex. Wes Parker Collection. Weighs 10 grams.
A shocking locality specimen! This came out of a small pocket hit recently (2002) by mine owner Roland Reed. It is a vivid hue and has great glassy lustre to it. It is completely terminated atop and is complete all around except for a few small trivial cleaves along the back edge (facing away from the term). It comes with an equally significant gemstone cut from rough out of the same pocket (below). Chuck, Irv, and Roland have 3 of the 4 major pieces foudn between them (of which this is one), and I am told there were under 20 pieces of even remotely any quality in the history of the mine, of which this pocket was the best producer 7.1 x 4.4 x 1.4 cm
Rare locality piece and fascinating crysatllography to boot!. self collected a decade after the original find, from poking around the same pockets 1.2 x 0.9 x 0.6 cm
A shocking locality specimen! This came out of a small pocket hit recently (2002) by mine owner Roland Reed. It is a vivid hue and has great glassy lustre to it. It is completely terminated atop and is complete all around except for a few small trivial cleaves along the right edge. I am told there were under 20 pieces of even remotely any quality in the history of the mine, of which this pocket was the best producer 3 x 1.3 x 1 cm
Rare locality piece ! Stewart kunzites are uncommon! 2 x 1.1 x 0.5 cm
A shocking locality specimen! This came out of a small pocket hit recently (2002) by mine owner Roland Reed. It is a vivid hue and has great glassy lustre to it. It is completely terminated atop and is complete all around except for a few small trivial cleaves along the right edge. I am told there were under 20 pieces of even remotely any quality in the history of the mine, of which this pocket was the best producer. 2.9 x 2.7 x 0.4 cm
A very odd bicolored greenish/lilac kunzite from this mine! 3.3 x 1.2 x 0.7 cm
A pale, almost colorless spod from this classic find of the late 1970s 2.3 x 1.9 x 0.7 cm
This is a cmplete floater, shaded a pleasing pastel green in color. It is complete all around and frankly better in person than the pics indicate. Also, I think it is dirt cheap... 17.3 x 2 x 0.8 cm
I am not normally a fan of spodumenes but this one wowed me. The color is unique, and the gemminess superb. It is a complete floater of size and quality - MUCH more gemmy and bright, by the way, in person. In particular, this yellow one is much more glassy and transparent in person than the pics indicate. This piece is like carved glass, with intricate, elven carvings at the ends caused by natural fluid dissolution in the pocket. It is an intense lemon yellow in color like I have never seen before in the species, and along the c-axis (long axis, lower-left photo) it has an even deeper yellow hue to it! 11.2 x 6.1 x 2.6 cm (278 grams)
This is one of those famous pieces that is pretty much known by name throughout the higher levels of the collecting community. It was illustrated in the Mineralogical Record back in vol. 31, page 62. It was one of the featured gem crystals in the Sotheby's Auction of the Freilich collection in January of 2001. With everything else there was to buy to occupy people, I got lucky and it did not sell there at the auction, giving me the chance to buy it after auction later in the month. It then went to a private collection in Australia where it has resided since then and now comes back to me. It remains, in my estimation and many others', the single best specimen of its size range for the species in terms of overall aesthetics because of the combination of starkly contrasting matrix, deep rich color, steep and phenomenal termination, and composition. Seldom does kunzite form so sharp and symmetric a termination. It is a pleasing deep pink from the front, but almost a lavender hue from the side and downright purply down the c-axis view. It is contact-repaired to the natural matrix. In geological time, the crystal wiggled out of its natural matrix and left a small gap of several millimeters which then was filled in with additional albite and a few small quartz crystals. Thus, there is a slight but natural gap between the crystal and the matrix at its highest point of contact. It would be easy to remove those two teeny quartz nubs and make for a flat contact but I have twice now chosen, as did Wilber and Freilich before me, to leave the natural aspects of the piece intact as illustrative of the environment in which these gem crystals form. In any case, the slight gap is NOT visible from the front and so in no way detracts from the display view. The matrix is spotted with small green tourmalines, too! It is just an incredible piece...12.8 x 7 x 6.9 cm
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-27198a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-27198a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-278311a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-278311a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Pala Chief Mine (MS 6452; Chief Mine), Chief Mountain, Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-280370a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-280370a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Morganite), Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Tourmaline (Var: Indicolite), Spodumene from Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-283976a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-283976a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Morganite), Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Tourmaline (Var: Indicolite), Spodumene from Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-283976b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-283976b.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Morganite), Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Tourmaline (Var: Indicolite), Spodumene from Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-283976c.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-283976c.jpg)
![Spodumene from Beebe Hole Mine, Mt. Tule, Jacumba District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-283998a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-283998a.jpg)
![Spodumene from Beebe Hole Mine, Mt. Tule, Jacumba District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-283998b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-283998b.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Elizabeth R. Mine, Chief Mountain, Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-29511a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-29511a.jpg)
![Spodumene from Beebe Hole Mine, Mt. Tule, Jacumba District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-30050a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-30050a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Elizabeth R. Mine, Chief Mountain, Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-30057a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-30057a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Stewart Mine (MS 6162; Stewart Lithia), Tourmaline Queen Mountain (Pala; Queen), Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-30060a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-30060a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Elizabeth R. Mine, Chief Mountain, Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-31064a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-31064a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Elizabeth R. Mine, Chief Mountain, Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-31067a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-31067a.jpg)
![Spodumene from Beebe Hole Mine, Mt. Tule, Jacumba District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-31074a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-31074a.jpg)
![Spodumene from Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-33896a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-33896a.jpg)
![Spodumene from Mawi pegmatite, Laghman (Lagman; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-33930a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-33930a.jpg)
![Spodumene (Var: Kunzite) from Laghman (Lagman; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-33931a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-33931a.jpg)