Spessartine, Muscovite, Feldspar Group - image 1

Spessartine, Muscovite, Feldspar Group

Unknown Owner
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This large specimen is from a small batch of very distinctive Tongbei spessartine specimens. You are familiar by now with the plates of massed spessartines, often with smoky quartz crystals sticking up amongst them. This batch had ISOLATED gemmy spessartines, which adds to the attractiveness because of the contrast with the feldspar matrix. The spessartines are also balanced by these dove-grey books of thin muscovite crystals.

Product details

SpeciesMuscovite, Feldspar, Spessartine
SizeCabinet
Dimensions11.1 x 11.1 x 3.2 cm
Added on10/23/2024
LocalityChina, Fujian, Wushan Spessartine Mine

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
08/2024Unknown OwnerNot disclosed
—The ArkenstoneNot disclosed

Learn more

Mineral guide
Learn about Muscovite
classic white mica with perfect basal cleavage and pearly luster; elegant rosettes and sheets, with rare, high‑quality pieces for collectors.
Muscovite
Regional guide
Muscovite from Wushan Spessartine Mine, China
from the Wushan Spessartine Mine is not the headline mineral of the locality; that role belongs to the vivid orange spessartine. Yet the mica is one of the accents that gives the best Tongbei-area pieces their mineralogical poise. It appears as pearly, thin, hexagonal books and stacked plates on pale microcline, commonly in the same miarolitic-cavity assemblage as smoky quartz and spessartine. On strong specimens the mica acts almost like a cool-toned architectural counterpoint: dove-grey, silvery, pale greenish, or chlorite-edged books set against glassy orange garnets and dark smoky quartz.