Xenotime-(Y)

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Although well-known for nicely formed Xenotime-(Y) crystals it is not very often that we see specimens available from the Evje og Hornnes area and even rarer from the old feldspar quarries in the valley above Ås. This very well crystallized specimen comes from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) and features two, sharp, wedge-shaped, tetragonal, clove-brown coloured Xenotime-(Y) crystals, the largest reaching 2.5 cm across its largest dimension (across its base), but it is the smaller of the two, at 1.7 cm across, that is perfectly terminated with undamaged faces. The larger crystal looks to have its tip (point) missing, but close inspection reveals that the truncated surface is a dark mica crystal, suggesting that the Xenotime-(Y) crystal is complete, just modified in its natural form. The Xenotime-(Y) crystals are situated at either end of a similarly brown feldspar and mica rock matrix which does somewhat hide their fine crystal form which is extremely good for this classic Norwegian locality. Although only accompanied the previous collectors' display label, it seems most likely that this piece dates to the 1970s or earlier.