Stellerite, Stilbite

T

3,415 for sale·787 sold

Stellerite with stilbite on granite, 11.7 cm, from the Diaoyutai pyrite deposit, Qibaoshan, Wulian County, Shandong Province, China. Formerly the best Chinese zeolites had been attributed to the Fengjiashan mine in Hubei, but that turns out to be an error caused by specimen movement among dealers there. This specimen actually came from Diaoyutai, a smoky quartz locality in northern China, but was later sold out of Hubei and mistakenly attributed to the Fengjiashan mine. The granite matrix is typical of Diaoyutai. Sadly, most of the zeolites were apparently discarded by the quartz miners. I have not seen another with this color.