SOLD
MD-172120
Kosnarite, Zanazziite
Jenipapo district, Itinga, Jequitinhonha valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil
Small Cabinet, 5.5 x 5.3 x 3.1 cm
SOLD
Kosnarite is Potassium, Zirconium Phosphate and was named after Richard Kosnar in 1994. The type locality for this material is Mt. Mica, Maine, and the crystals at that find barely approached 1 mm in diameter. A few years ago, Luiz Menezes made a discovery of what are the finest crystallized Kosnarite specimens in existence with crystals up to 4 mm! This is a specimen from that find featuring sharp, lustrous, yellow color, pseudo-cubic (trigonal) crystals on white Albite matrix. If you look closely, you'll see a small truncated face on each "cube" of Kosnarite on this specimen, which is actually a pinacoid or a "c" face as these crystals are trigonal and not isometric as they might appear. The best aspect of this specimen is that it is covered with brownish spherical aggregates of Zanazziite (Manganoan). When broken, the spheres are actually PINK inside, due to the fact that the iron in these Zanazziite has been nearly completely replaced by manganese!