V22-1460
Anhydrite (classic find)
St Gotthard basis tunnel, NEAT Construction site, Amsteg, Reuss Valley, Uri, Switzerland
Small Cabinet, 6.4 x 1.8 x 1.5 cm
Ex. Dr. Wouter Van Tichelen
$6,500.00 Payment Plan Available
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This specimen was removed during construction of the famous NEAT tunnel in St. Gotthard pass in the Swiss Alps and is a beautiful, transparent crystal cluster of Anhydrite. This tunnelling project hit a few pockets of large, now highly treasured crystals of this rare Alpine classic, found and collected by onsite engineers and geologists as they could, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These drifted into European collections at the time. This particular elongate cluster is composed of a few prismatic, parallel growth Anhydrite crystals to 6 cm in length with a few small (5 to 7mm) and one larger (3.2 cm) sidecar crystals. It is an elegant and complete cluster that is attractive all around due to its gemminess and the accessory sparkling Chlorite in places. In person, it has a pale lavender color, typical of the locality. Superb for size, aesthetics and importance. From Wiki: The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland. It opened on 1 June 2016, and full service began on 11 December 2016. This is a relatively large, certainly elegant example. From the collection of Dr Wouter Van Tichelen.