Vanadinite

Unknown Owner

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This huge plate of vanadinite, in crystals to 1.5 cm across, is a near floater with crystals covering the front, back and sides of the matrix. The crystals on the display (front and sides) face are equant, doubly terminated, gear-shaped and generally look like little red jewels. Lustrous and translucent, they are a reddish-brick color. Gemmy highlights of orange and yellow are present along with incipient hopper growth visible in the side faces of nearly all the crystals. Although there are minor dings on a few crystals (especially a few at bottom), none of the dings are on a major crystal and in the context of a piece the size of a football with hundreds of pristine larger crystals, there is no visible detraction from the persnickety dings that did come to be. The overall quality and size is very impressive, impactful, and simply colorful in a case. I have seen few large vanadinites as impressive as this for sheer visual impact, in fact, that were not priced at several times this amount. Note that the piece is actually more impressive in a case vertically, but for a photo the optimal angle was horizontal to try to optimize the focus and depth of field. It can certainly be displayed either way, though