MARIALITE

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Sometimes seen labelled as Scapolite, which is the group, or series within which it sits, Marialite is a sodium aluminium silicate chloride which is often considered as a rock-forming mineral, but which can, albeit rarely, form gemmy individual crystals. This is one such example, coming from the ancient and remote Lapis Lazuli mines at Sar-e Sang in Koksha Valley, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. More specifically labelled as from Ladjuar Medam, this simply translates as "Blue mine" which is probably no more specific than saying "Lapis Lazuli mine". It features two extremely fine, gem-quality terminated prismatic Marialite crystals attached to a small, miniature-sized piece of matrix, made up of fragmentary Marialite crystals embedded in rock. The longest crystal reaches a significant 2 cm in length and the other 1.2 cm. Both of the terminated crystals display superb pleochroism, with pale violet-lavender coloured prisms with much deeper coloured tips when viewed down the length of the prism. The quality of these crystals should not be underestimated as these are significant for the gem variety of this species, especially from Afghanistan. It is from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).