TUC12-683
Selenite (Twinned Floater)
Red River Floodway, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Cabinet, 11.5 x 10.5 x 9.5 cm
SOLD
Once, in the early 1990s, these were abundant on the market due to collectors pursuing them by license. However, now collecting is severely restricted in this spillway cut, and in any case few specimens of this size and perfection were ever recovered (i recall most are in the 2-3 inch range). Collectors had to dig several meters down in the mud, where these had formed somehow as floaters in a specific layer. This is a HUGE cluster, for the locale, with gorgeous, gemmy, transparent twinned crystals of gypsum sticking out like towers from the smaller untwinned crystals making up the ball beneath. It is complete and perfect all around, with no damage despite the natural softness of gypsum. Such specimens were literally found in a fraction of a percentile of the time. Joe Budd Photos.