A stratling and dramatic specimen with a long (6.9 cm) and thick crystal that sits very aesthetically on matrix. The single crystal has excellent luster and good clarity. Both terminations are partly intergrown with matrix but nonetheless complete (if partially formed on the back edges). For the size, in particular, it is a very nice specimen. BETTER IN PERSON

This majestic specimen is one of the very finest pieces to come from this find of 2003. It came out of "back channels" and was not associated with the relatively large quantity of the material which came out in Tucson earlier that year. I had bought this vivianite from 4 different sources and seen the material from another two (apparently it was quite the vivianite party down there), but have not seen another of anything near its equal to date. It consists of a beautiful pair of lustrous and glassy crystals that cross very dramatically on matrix. The upright crystal is GEM-CLEAR and transparent, measuring in at 4 cm tall and 2 cm wide by 1.75 cm deep. The doubly-terminated crystal crossing it at the base is a full 9 cm tip to tip. It is, again, DOUBLY-terminated and pristine on the front. It has some contacts to matrix on the back ends of each termination, but that is not damage per se and certainly does not detract from the front view. Note how the cluster is perched SECURELY on well-trimmed limonite matrix. Unlike pyrite-affiliated matrix specimens from previous finds at other locales, this material is stable because the matrix has no traces of the pyrite that is somehow responsible for the gradual decomposition of the matrix (in those vivianite pieces from other localities).