Corundum (var: Sapphire) (bi-colored crystal)

Item Description

An eye-catching bi-colored Sapphire from the discovery in Madagascar from circa 2005. These attractive and unique specimens feature crystals with exceptional euhedral form, that are amazingly bright and colorful, plus they are all remarkably lustrous for the species. This particular specimen features a fine quality, very sharp, rather lustrous, hexagonal, pink and purple, doubly-terminated, Sapphire crystal measuring 2.1 cm smartly sitting on a dark Mica schist matrix. A smaller secondary Sapphire can be seen on the piece for a nice touch. These Sapphires don't look like anything I've seen from any other locality before. For both size and quality, this is one of the better examples of Corundum from Madagascar. Very good quality for the species, especially because the crystals are so lustrous and sharp and NOT rounded like many other Corundum specimens from other localities. Throw in the fact that the crystals are on matrix, makes it a desirable specimen, as most Sapphires crystals you'll find are loose and rarely on matrix like this. Additionally the Sapphires from this locality display color-change properties from sun to indoor lighting. In LED light it's more of bluish-purple color and highlights more of the pinkish color in halogen lighting, but turns starkly more blue in sunlight. This piece has great fluorescent properties as well. In my opinion, these are some of the most intriguing and beautiful minerals to come from Madagascar. A great display piece from this isolated discovery, and as far as I know, no more have been found in several years. Priced at $1,500 in the inventory. From the collection of Vasco Trancoso, a medical doctor and prominent mineral collector from near Lisbon, Portugal (https://www.mindat.org/user-11954.html). He assembled his mineral collection over the course of 60 years, and built a fine worldwide display collection that we recently purchased. This piece is pictured on mindat.org at https://www.mindat.org/photo-191149.html