UTR20-21
Colemanite
Kurtpınarı Mine, Faraskoy, Balikesir Province, Turkey
Small Cabinet, 8.8 x 8.6 x 4.4 cm
$1,950.00 $1,462.50
Order Now

A lovely and large Colemanite from singular early-2000s finds at this mine that haven't been duplicated since. These are arguably some of the prettiest Colemanite pieces ever produced anywhere in the world. It's a fascinating specimen with unusual color and crystal habit that I think most people would have trouble identifying as Colemanite, especially from this obscure locale. Colemanite crystals on this attractive group have a rich, transparent, brown core and colorless, transparent rims and constitute the first documented occurrence of distinct phantoms for the species. The crystals are highly lustrous and many of them are twinned resulting in pseudo-octahedral crystals and reach 2 cm in size! I obtained a small lot of these attractive Colemanites in the early 2000s from a German mining engineer who had collected them while on the job at this mine and this piece was one of them. The color is unique for the species. The Colemanite crystals fluoresce a distinct orange-brown under short wave UV light. Rarity or not, it is a captivating specimen. We bought these back in the early 2000s, and only just found the last few in my warehouse over the summer. No more have been found since of this style.

Video on Instagram