superb, rich Papagoite in Quartz ex Jack Halpern Collection

Item Description

Papagoite is a very rare calcium, copper, aluminum silicate hydroxide and these special inclusions are really among the most rare and desired inclusion/combinations in the mineral collecting world. This choice, small cabinet specimen features an unpolished, natural Quartz crystal that displays rich bands of intense, blue Papagoite inclusions within the gemmy termination. Fascinating, as well as very attractive, it is sharp and balanced. The inclusions are also unusually rich! So we  have the combination of NATURAL and not polished; RICH inclusions; and GREAT COLOR! This combination piece is from the famous and small 1985 find at the Messina Mine of South Africa, source of the very best Papagoite-included Quartz crystals and not repeated to this day despite efforts. It's has always been intriguing, as well as perplexing, at how you can get such inclusions within a crystal. In this case, when you look at the base of the Quartz, you can see distinct hexagonal growth bands. Mystery solved, at least in this case. The small amount of wear on the termination has little effect on the fine aesthetics (it is literally an old in situ ding, from the back of the tip, and can be easily hidden with a small bit of restoration. For that matter, it seems this has never even been properly cleaned in the lab, and will improve tremendously with proper cleaning and that slight tip restoration if it matters to the owner). For guidance, since so few of these are ever on the market to go research comparables, these tend to sell for $5000-10,000, in this quality, IF AND WHEN they turn up. Jack bought this shortly after they were mined, from the old Pala Properties business of Bill Larson and Ed Swoboda in the 1980s. 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-jac...