Spodumene var: Kunzite (doubly-terminated)

Item Description

A cool Kunzite specimen from Afghanistan featuring a pair of rather sharp, well-formed, prismatic, gemmy, purplish-pink colored "sword"-shaped crystals, free of matrix. The crystals are actually doubly-terminated as the base of the specimen re-crystallized ("re-healed") after it was separated from the pocket wall. I won't go so far as to say the piece is a complete "floater", as I can see some slightly incomplete / interrupted growth, so I'm just going to leave it as nearly a "floater". Despite the appearance, the crystals are not twinned, they are simply growing parallel to one another. A really attractive miniature sized piece of this classic material. There are really only three places in the world that produce fine quality gem crystals of Kunzite: San Diego County, California; Minas Gerais, Brazil and various localities in Afghanistan. Most of the San Diego County locales are not producing anything, and Brazil rarely produces SHARP, EUHEDRAL crystals like this piece, so even though they might be present in the public consciousness, they are not very common around the world. The piece weighs in at 30.8 grams. From the collection of Wendell Overcash, originally from Bill Panczner.