Unusual Canadian Talc Crystals

Nov 10, 2015 - Although talc is actually quite common and mined by the ton in some places, CRYSTALLIZED talc has historically been very , very rare. Old specimens from Italy and Vermont quarries sell for a premium when they (rarely) turn up. Here we have a surprise: A rare find, traded to us by a customer who self-collected these and spent months carefully dissolving the surrounding matrix away, these are quite remarkable specimens of crystallized talc with a pleasing green color. As they formed hosted in enclosing matrix, they have surreal shapes and forms from constrained growth, but are actually complete all around.. This quarry is more famous for some brookite and anatase. It actually produced some pretty good specimens for Canada. Geologically this spot is very closely related to Vermont Verde Antique International quarry, which is just across the border and produced some historic (and very expensive and valuable today!) talc specimens in the past. Although talc is prolific at this spot is occurs mostly as massive deposits or very fine grained white to grey masses. These large translucent green talc crystals came from a very small localized spot. Dr. Donald Doell Jr. collected them around 2008 and they sat in his basement for a while. They needed to be prepped carefully out of the dolomite vein that they formed in (by acid removal of the carbonate around them). As he tells me: "I was hoping I might be able to go and find some more, after discovering that they prepped out quite well. Sadly by then the quarry had been reclaimed and completely filled in. So what you got from me is the best I had and looks like there won't be any more." Historically, talc specimens from Italy and Vermont have been both rare and expensive, making these Canadian specimens a bit of a special treat for collectors today, and something you do not normally see on the market.