Purple adamites, once thought to be cobaltian but now known to be manganese-rich, are one of the rarest and most desirable of the sexy Ojuela Mine rarities. They simply blow away other adamites, in my opinion, and are simply the rarest style to own. Only a relatively few came out, several flats of good material with larger crystals in 1982; and then lesser finds over the years since. This is from the 1982 find with its characteristic white "roots" and lustrous, broad purple terminations. The tips are glassy and broad and GEMMY, also characteristic of that pocket compared to the (few) later finds.. The whole lot was brought out by John Whitmire at the time and literally vaporised from his Tucson sales room on opening day. The adamite cluster here is very nicely centered on matrix like a splayed out flower. The cluster is about 4 cm across, with individual crystals to 1.2 cm. No damage to the core clusters, here. Reference: see also Gem & Crystal Treasures pp 128-131, Romero Book, and Mineralogical Record's Ojuela issue.Joe Budd Photos