Tantalite-(Mn) (rare Virginia locality)

Item Description

Here we have an incredibly rare specimen of Tantalite-(Mn) from the Rutherford Mines in Amelia Virginia. Not only are these specimens extraordinarily hard to find, but this piece has the added scarcity of being a MATRIX specimen. If you look at the few pieces listed on mindat.org from this locality, you'll see they're all single crystals, free of matrix, so this piece is an exceptional example for that fact. A 4.2 cm, dark reddish-black layered / platy prismatic crystal group of Tantalite-(Mn) is exposed out of solid grey Feldspar matrix. The fact that the crystal group is terminated and euhedral is significant, as these can be quite crude, and this one had the good fortune of having enough room within the Feldspar to actually crystallize fully. A really rare and significant piece of this obscure material. If you collect Niobates/Tantalates or minerals of Virginia, this is something that you're not likely to find again, so don't miss out. The piece comes with a label from a German (or Austrian or Swiss) doctor by the name of Beck, and the number 1146 can be seen on the front face of the specimen.