Serandite is at its best, a beautiful species - and the aesthetic specimens of this quality only come from Mt. St. Hilaire, and only from a very few specific pockets over the long life of this mine (mostly in the 1980's). Taken together, that makes for one of the most beautiful of rare species surprises in mineral collecting, and any specimens like this are highly sought after. Most of them have pale color, or are singles, or damaged clusters. This is a very well balanced small cabinet sized specimen with uniform color and exquisite crystallography, and presents as a cluster. I have known this piece since my first visit to Jack in the late 1990's and have already loved it. It is not too small as are most, not too big and clunky, not pale...it is "just right." It came from the small zone of pockets in the late 1980's called "the glory tunnel" by locals, and of which a number of specimens are now in the major museums. Interestingly, I had collected minerals for a decade and even been to this mine for a visit back around 1990, before I realized two things: this is actually not the type locality but the type locality only gave up ugly micros; and that this was not a feldspar but actually is perhaps the only beauty in the Wollastonite Group of species. Back to this specimen, the pics say it all.

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