Franklinite (classic material) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

Of the nearly 500 mineral species found in the Franklin Mining District, this is one that bears its name. Franklinite is fairly rare species around the world, and to this day, the best examples of this zinc iron oxide were found at Franklin. The iconic black octahedra are some of the most recognizable crystals from any US locality. This thumbnail features a pair of jet-black slightly distorted octahedra of Franklinite measuring up to 1.0 cm sitting on Calcite matrix. It should be noted that the vast majority of species from Franklin are very small, and Franklinite is one of the species that you can see with the naked eye. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#9617). 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).