Stellerite (fine quality) (ex Charlie Key Collection)

Item Description

India is world famous for producing some amazing zeolite specimens. Although these minerals might be considered common on the market due to their abundance, many of them are still the FINEST crystallized examples of their respective species ever found. This piece is a superb cabinet display specimen of the uncommon zeolite Stellerite. A large, 5.2 cm partial radial "ball" of soft cream colored Stellerite is composed of hundreds of thin, tightly intergrown orthorhombic blades sits beautifully on the contrasting black basalt matrix. The piece itself is in excellent condition with no major damage to be seen, only a few TINY imperfections along the edge where it was removed from the pocket wall. The dazzling wet luster combined with soft translucency of the Stellerite along with its noteworthy size make a very good example of a mineral that is rarely seen in such impressive crystallized examples. This piece is from the collection of noted mineral dealer Charlie Key. Charlie is almost certainly the most successful dealer of the second half of the 20th century, and has the distinction of having two mineral species name after him (Keyite and Ludlockite). It should be noted that the dealer label which accompanies this piece has it misidentified as Epistilbite, which is forgivable as the two species look very similar from India, but these crystals are distinctly orthorhombic while Epistilbite is monoclinic with typically "wedge"-shaped terminations. Another difference between the two species is that virtually every Epistilbite I've seen from India is white / colorless, while this Stellerite has a soft cream color. With that said, the piece was originally valued at $1,250, but I would still put it near $1,000 retail as a Stellerite.