Wavellite

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This is a bizarre columnar wavellite specimen with "sheets" of wavellite, as if frozen in mid-flow like a cave formation of aragonite or calcite might be. Although not pristine (there are some damaged spots), it is dramatic and quite displayable. It is also the biggest such specimen of wavellite I have seen. According to museum records and the number on the back of the piece (19584), this dates to the time period as the Vaux expeditions of the 1920s and thus was most likely collected by Sam Gordon, then-curator, on one of the early Vaux expeditions (1st or 2nd) ! You can see this dating jives with the PAS-184 dating on its label, noting Sam Gordon collected the specimen in 1921 (also then on the Vaux expeditions). Note the museum's own large format display card is as big as the specimen is, so it could sit atop of it.