Epidote from Knappenwand, Salzburg, Austria

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A beautiful classic herringbone grouping of lustrous translucent green epidote crystals with very little attached matrix on the backside of the piece. Slight damage present to some of the smaller crystals as seen, the prominent crystals are all still in really good condition. This is gorgeous when backlit as shown in the picture and video. Complete all around. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video and would date to the early 20th century, if not the 19th century. There appears to be one repair, though difficult to tell, on the shorter crystal in the front. This would not be unusual for these. Epidote from the Knappenwand in the Untersulzbach Valley of Salzburg, Austria occurs in alpine fissures within metamorphic schist and gneiss of the Hohe Tauern mountains. The locality is famous for producing large, sharply formed, transparent to deep green epidote crystals that are often associated with quartz, adularia, and other alpine minerals. Although the area was originally explored for copper and other metals, it became renowned primarily for its exceptional mineral specimens collected from high altitude clefts. Knappenwand epidote is considered among the finest in the world and is highly valued by collectors for its size, clarity, and classic alpine origin.