Kunzite In Matrix

Unknown Owner

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These specimens were collected in the mid-1950s and this piece found its way into local miner Roland Reed's collection via the George Ashley collection. Korpi got it from Reed. As you would expect, hard-matrix specimen of kunzite from San Diego COunty are EXTREMELY RARE and most kunzites from the County are simply loose crystals by the time we mine them. Some recently mined examples from the Vandenburg, taken out during the late 90s, were sprayed and soaked with glue to stabilize the crumbly matrix in which they were found (so they are basically floaters perched in glued pocket rock). THESE CRYSTALS, HOWEVER, are in solid rock matrix and are both stable and attractively nested. The large bottom matrix is not as clunky in person as you might think and serves to display the crystals better, in person. The crystal on the left is 7 cm long and of high quality: very gemmy and deep pink in color!