Cavansite & Stilbite

Item Description

Cavansite is one of those minerals that occurs in such quantity of mediocrity, that we have to sit back and do a double take when presented with something of this caliber that is so far beyond the norm that it sets a new level. This is, quite simply, one of the best examples of the species we know of. It has the deepest royal blue color, combined with associated pure snow white (and large) stilbite blades. This style only came out once, in the early 2000s, and there were few of them. This was one of Fran's biggest purchases, and remains to this day one of the most significant species representations in the collection, as it has not been superceded for quality in this particular style. Cavansite comes in many styles and we can argue about whether we personally like the "balls" or the "blades," but this is a world class of the style regardless. The main cluster is a huge 3 cm across - shocking for the species. The color is NOT the typical medium sky-blue, but a truly rich royal blue the way only the older finds possess. So although there are literally thousands of cavansites out there, this would be, for size and significance, quality and style, among the top few dozen specimens for our taste and preferences. It is large, and imposing and the color can be seen across a room. Lastly, it has a special sparkle to it. Many cavansites have color but not sparkle - this does not lack either. It is, lastly, pristine. The specimen comes with a custom lucite display base, as a horizontal display. As a final bonus, there is actually more material on the backside. It is hard to value such a specimen, in all honesty. When cataloguing the collection, I recalled offering Fran $15,000 for it in the past to try to get this when he bought the Milpillas azurite also presented in this auction set, which was turned down by the owner without even a second thought. We believe it is worth much more than that, once you accept that this must be in the top few examples of such a rare and beautiful species and compare pricing to what mediocre examples of other species typically can cost. This is a significant specimen, and belongs in a significant collection. There is no reason this is not a $25,000-$35,000 specimen, a world class example of what is actually a rare species in such size and caliber.