Heulandite ex Jack Halpern Collection

Item Description

When I first picked this cabinet piece up, my immediate reaction was 'this was such an incredble and large Heulandite from India' for the uniform creme color, great pearly luster, and the absolutely classic 'boat shape' created by the curving, layered crystal. It is dramatic! But it's not from India! Rather, this piece is from the lesser known, but obviously distinguished, locality at Tura in Siberia where the famous meteor hit in the Tunguska event long ago, and from an old collection the Van Scrivers had gotten in Europe. The edges of the Heulandite crystals are actually gemmy, which is only improved by the highly reflective luster. The downside of all those wonderful sparkly qualities, plus the uniform color and curving nature of the crystal, is that they all team up to make this notoriously hard to photograph. This great Heulandite is so much better in person. There are numerous references to Jack and his collection in print, but perhaps a good tour of the collection and its history will help give perspective on just how good, and important, this collection is: https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection