Italian Vesuvianites are among the finest and most highly sought after examples of the species. This piece hosts a rather thick group of sharp, well-formed, lustrous, deep "root beer" color, prismatic crystals of Vesuvianite with minor Hornblende on matrix. The crystals have a contact in the back where the piece was removed from the matrix, but overall the quality is excellent. These specimens are not seen on the market very often, especially with crystals up to 3.1 cm long like those on this piece. From the famed Alpine mineral collection of Richard A. Kosnar.