Spinel ("Spinel Law" twin) on marble

Item Description

The area around Mogok is world famous for producing the finest crystals and gems of Spinel in the world. This locality is most likely the site of the discovery of the famous Black Prince's Ruby in the Crown Jewels of the UK. This significance of the stone is the crown is that it was actually revealed to be a giant (170 carat) Spinel, and not a Ruby as thought for centuries. Spinels are typically found in opaque, dark crystals, and good gem specimens like this are not only rare, but treasured on the market. This piece is important for three reasons. First it features a wonderful, classic, "Spinel Law" twin (along {111}) showing a compressed pair of octahedral crystals growing along a common place. This particular twinning habit is seen in many other species around the world, but first and most often in Spinel, hence the name. Secondly, the twin itself measures 1.2 cm acrss and is very sharp, lustrous and well-formed, but most importantly it's GEMMY when backlit. It's not 100% water clear, but it certainly shows areas where the light shines through to highlight the glowing reddish-pink hue of the crystal. It's not common to find gemmy twins like this from Mogok, but that's not the most significant factor for me. Thirdly and most importantly, this crystal is on matrix and unrepaired! The nature of these specimens is such that the vast majority of the Spinel crystals found either weather out, or are knocked loose from their marble host rock matrix during the mining process. Only a small percentage of Mogok Spinels are found on matrix, and many of those pieces are actually glued back on after they've been discovered. The fact that this piece features a sharp, lustrous, gemmy twin that is not repaired on matrix, gives it all the necesscary criteria for a top specimen of this classic and beloved material. Spinel is very popular in the gem world, but it doesn't get the recognition it deserved in the mineral world, as it's simply not found very often in good display specimens like this. People should treasure something of such beauty and rarity, as these specimens simply are not seen on the market very often. If you collect gem crystals, consider Spinel to be one of the most desirable gem crystal minerals that few people actually have good representation in their collections. Priced at $2,800 for quality, size and the rarity of the fact that it's an unrepaired twin on matrix.