Samarskite-(Y) (very rare locality specimen) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

A very hard to find, old time Samarskite (now Samarskite-(Y)) from the lesser known Nuevo Mine (Nuevo Quarry) in Riverside County, California which produced a handful of examples of the species years ago, but this is honestly the first one we've seen in person. A somewhat blocky specimen of Samarskite-(Y) with a black-grey hue and a bit of attached matrix. It's a great rarity for any collector of California minerals or just a collector or tantalates. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#5203). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017). I found another photo of this piece on mindat for reference https://www.mindat.org/photo-308920.html