This is an attractive specimen of the rare hydrous calcium silicate Suolunite from THE find for the species at the Black Lake Mine. This gorgeous piece is composed of translucent, very pale lavender, botryoidal aggregates that have a radial divergent structure resulting in its shimmering play of light on the surface. The luster is bright silky to almost chatoyant, and the color is very easy on the eyes. The entire piece is completely translucent and when backlit it just glows! Charlie Key was able to secure all of this famous single pocket that was apparently a geologic aberration (he purchased it as Prehnite, from the miners, he once told me over a lobster dinner at his home in Maine when I helped him pack up the collection he sold me back around 2010). Interestingly, everybody knew that Charlie collected Prehnite for himself, and so that may be why he was offered the pocket in the first place - at a premium for "purple prehnite" as some of it was indeed a lavender to bluish color. This one has a very, very pale tint, in fact. Charlie in turn sold nearly the whole lot to the Royal Ontario Museum, only keeping a few for himself (of which this is one, from his long-held miniatures collection which he only parted with in 2018 to Marshall Sussman). Any specimens such as this on the market in the last decade were actually then deaccessioned from the museum in an exchange/trade through dealers Rod and Helen Tyson, back in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, this was kept the whole time as Charlie's favorite miniature of this color and style, from the one time, famous find. It is a true world class example of this very rare species. It is a displayable, sublime large miniature for the species worthy of competition! One last note - this has a lot of volume of translucent/transparent material within, and in a stunning moment of barbarism, we had some of these cut into gems (mostly from massive pieces).Those gems now grace collections of private collectors as well as the Smithsonian and Royal Ontario. So, there is gem rough inside, although admittedly esoteric.