PERUAA-10
Augelite on Quartz
Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, La Libertad Dept., Peru
Thumbnail, 3.0 x 2.1 x 1.8 cm
SOLD
So far from what I have seen over watching this trickle of augelite come out of a small, hand-worked vein over the years 2012-2014, this is one of the best thumbnails. I paid a premium for it down in Peru, in fact, as I was so surprised they had troubled to save a thumbnail from the find (smaller specimens are often ignored to chase big matrix pieces). This complete, 360-degree thumbnail is superb for the species, but also stands on its own aesthetic merits for quality in form, color, and balance: Two parallel-growth, glassy and gemmy, bright apple-green augelite crystals to 2 cm in length are wreathed by glassy and gemmy, colorless quartz crystals to 8 mm. A striking piece, way beyond any thumbnail example of this species I had ever seen from older Canadian finds which are now relegated to seconds for the species. This find redefines the species, in my opinion.