Spinel (rare locality specimen) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

There are a few localities where Spinel has been reported in Santa Rita Peak, San Benito County, California, but THIS piece is the FIRST example that we've ever seen. The label only states that it's from San Benito County, but it's safe to say that it's from Santa Rita Peak. A handful of very lustrous, textbook, sharp, octahedral crystals of Spinel of a rarely seen golden-brown hue measure up to 3 mm on host rock (serpentinite?) matrix. If you collect California minerals, this is a perfect specimen to check off a box in your collection, as these pieces are essentially non-existent on the market. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#7559). 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).