Vesuvianite (classic material)

Item Description

The famous Vesuvianite crystals from the Jeffrey Mine in Quebec are arguably the most distinctive examples of the species ever found. Many of the localities that have produced Vesuvianite crystals around the world have yielded crystals with darker hues, often in the brown range, but the Jeffrey pieces are notably colorful, the most well-known examples being a vibrant yellow-green shade. This piece is a wonderful small cabinet display specimen loaded with excellent, sharp, lustrous, well-formed, prismatic crystals measuring up to 1.6 cm, with no real matrix to speak of, it's essentially pure Vesuvianite all over. Nearly all of the crystals are undamaged on the front/display side, though there are some points of contact/attachment, where the piece was separated from the pocket wall. Overall it's a very showy and fine quality example of these now fairly hard to find specimens, since the Jeffrey Mine is completely closed down, and will never produce them again. Valued $1,250.
From the collection of Richard ("Rich") A. Kosnar (1946-2007), the well-known mineral collector and dealer from Colorado, and the namesake for the rare zirconium phosphate species, Kosnarite. Rich personally collected this piece at the Jeffrey Mine when he visited there in 1971 on a trip with Rock Currier.