Spinel (classic locality)

Item Description

Amity has been long known as one the premier East Coast localities for fine Spinel crystals. These specimens have been found since the 1800s, and are certainly icons found only in old collections. The Spinels form in the same famous marble that extends northeast from Franklin, New Jersey. This specimen is a good display quality miniature featuring a tiered group of rather sharp and lustrous, jet-black octahedral crystals measuring up to 2.1 cm on edge, associated with minor bronze colored Phlogopite Mica, along with a bit of attached off-white marble. The Spinel crystals have smooth faces (they're not rough or etched like many can be from this locality) and they are complete all around. I will again point out the luster, which is better than most I've handled from this locality, and this is certainly a high quality example of this historic and beloved material.
From the collection of George Elling, a prominent East Coast collector, with a label from the collection of James B. Cone by way of William R. C. Corson (1918).