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A new find of intensely purple scapolite from this remote part of
Afghanistan surprised me, as I had only seen bits and pieces
before. These crystals range from transparent (rarely) to translucent,
and are as intensely purple in person as they look here - although I'd
say more translucent in the flesh. These crystals rival and in fact
surpass in size and overall visual impact, other recent finds of
purple scapolite from Tajikistan or Tanzania. Unfortunately, the
pocket (a single pocket, I am told) was not professionally collected
or packaged for transport, and the vast majority were damaged on their
long way to market. I selected as carefully as I could, finding only
about 2 dozen crystals worthy of collector-quality.
PSCAP-02 - Scapolite - $900 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan miniature, 3.1 x 1.9 x 1.5 cm
For gemminess and color, and lustre, one of the best of the lot in this "toenail" size range with MUCH MUCH better lustre and gemminess in person. Pristine, complete all around, save for a very small ding on one back edge only.
PSCAP-03 - Scapolite - $500 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 2.5 x 2.2 x 2.0 cm
A super thumbnail with MUCH more gemminess in person, good color, and high glassy lustre. Complete all around except for a small ding on one back edge, this is a showy, high quality thumbnail specimen.
PSCAP-04 - Scapolite - $175 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 2.7 x 2.2 x 1.9 cm
A fat, equant crystal with a wonderfully broad termination that comes to a central point like a house roof. THis fatty is very gemmy and lustrous in person. It has a vrey minor amount of edge wear, and the photo is shot to intentionally show this tiny (shallow, under 1mm deep) wear on the left edge at its absolute worst to be honest about it - but its not obvious at all in person.
PSCAP-05 - Scapolite - $250 SOLD Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan miniature, 3.1 x 1.7 x 2.0 cm
A robust, very gemmy crystal with a complete termination, though included by small bits of matrix I'd need to see if they could be cleaned off. Hence, an otherwise $750 crystal at half that price. The crystal is very gemmy in person, lustrous, and complete all around except for a small ding in back on one edge.
PSCAP-06 - Scapolite - $125 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 1.8 x 1.9 x 1.9 cm
A very gemmy, lustrous, sharp thumbnail crystal! Lustrous on front, slight mottling by included matrix on back of termination (but not damaged)
PSCAP-07 - Scapolite - $150 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 2.5 x 1.6 x 1.6 cm
A gemmy crystal, with beautiful color and lustre. Its termination is complete, although there is some contact and damage on the back face of the crystal. Still, it displays very well from the front and is quite representative of otherwise high quality, especially for the price.
PSCAP-08 - Scapolite - $50 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 1.7 x 1.7 x 1.6 cm
One of the gemmiest and most purple crystals at the same time, this cute thumbnail has just one tiny ding, on the very apex of the termination. You can tilt it back so this is not visible (right photo), though we chose to show it at its worst in the leftmost photo for honesty.
PSCAP-09 - Scapolite - $950 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan miniature, 2.9 x 1.7 x 1.6 cm
A very gemmy, fine, complete crystal with high lustre. MUCH better in person as it is hard to convey both gemminess and lustre, and till nail accurate color hue! One of the best thumbnails here
PSCAP-10 - Scapolite - $200 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 1.7 x 1.7 x 1.7 cm
Although it has some internal crazing more evident in the photos than in real life, this crystal is pristine and undamaged and has no cracks on the outside. It is probably the most lustrous, mirror-like crystal here and is riveting in person for that fact alone...but somehow it also has the most intense purple color. REALLY LEAPS OUT.
PSCAP-11 - Scapolite - $300 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 2.2 x 2.1 x 1.9 cm
A super-gemmy, lustrous, nearly pristine (tiny sub-mm wear on one back edge only) thumbnail crystal of high quality! MUCH more gemmy and bright, in person, in fact.
PSCAP-12 - Scapolite - $175 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 1.5 x 1.7 x 1.7 cm
A super-colorful, lustrous, pristine (tiny sub-mm wear on one back edge only) thumbnail crystal of high quality! MUCH more intense purple and bright, in person, in fact.
PSCAP-13 - Scapolite - $750 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan miniature, 3.2 x 3.0 x 3.0 cm A massively thick, rather large crystal for the find to have survived! This crystal has intense purple color, and very good lustre (better in person). it is translucent, though not transparent. It is pristine and complete all around without imperfection except only for a small natural contact , this on the back of one edge and out of sight. Impressive for the price , for the sheer color impact as well as symmetry.
PSCAP-14 - Scapolite - $50 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan thumbnail, 2.7 x 2.2 x 2.1 cm
THis piece has INTENSE purple color and good lustre, and is complete on one side and the termination leading down to the one edge you can see on the left photo has damage. It is also broken on the back. Still, for the price...its a lot of color and one good display angle.
PSCAP-16 - Scapolite - $350 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan miniature, 3.0 x 2.7 x 2.5 cm
An intensely purple, equant crystal with really strong color to it, good lustre, and overall good form. It has a slight bit of edge wear on the left edge (shown worse in the photo than in person), and a shallow natural contact on the right edge that is facing to the side and not very detracting, but a slight asymmetry nonetheless. Big and fat, though, this is like crystallized grape jelly the color is so intense!
PSCAP-17 - Scapolite - $2000 Darra-i-Pech, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan miniature, 4.0 x 2.6 x 2.4 cm
A huge, fat, very purple crystal with unusual size for the find. It has intense purple color, is translucent, and is complete except for a very , very minor bit of edge wear hard to spot.
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