Selenite from Red River Floodway, Manitoba, Canada

"The Impossible Crystal" was a special exhibition at The Munich Show (Europe's largest mineral expo) in 2024. It showcased rare minerals featuring bizarre shapes that defy conventional crystallography. One specimen of this type of Canadian Selenite had a well deserved place in that exhibition.

This extremely unusually Selenite type was discovered as floaters during excavations in the clay beds of the Red River Floodway. Its formation is due to two generations of growth. The first growth formed near-spherical cores or rosettes of stout inter-grown crystals. The second generation grew in large golden crystals with a unique twinning shape that resembles a duck's bill. These unique selenites are famous and are found nowhere else in the world.

Each ball of crystals has from one to several super-gemmy second generation crystals. Usually those larger crystals appear randomly radiating from the rosette, but in the case of this very specimen of my collection nature created one more incredible piece of art of an already incredible type of mineral. Due to the amazing crown of large crystals only on the top of the sphere and their beautiful color tone, this specimen is the most aesthetic I have ever seen.