Rutile

Unknown Owner

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This is a HUGE 340-gram specimen from this very famous old locality. We can't recall having seen such a large Parkesburg rutile for sale before. It is a little bit worn, has some very minor damage on the sub-terminations, but overall is in surprisingly good shape for such a large, old, and soft crystal. There is no damage that detracts visually from its obvious importance and display value in a collection of such classics. This comes with an old label but we are still trying to identify the provenance. Note the term "rutile money" on the label, perhaps indicating how these were traded around like money at the time? According to Mindat.org: Of Genth; "Finest locality in Sadsbury township, for the principle locality for Rutile in Chester County PA. Considerable quantity of Rutile had been collected in the early to mid 19th century, Doubly geniculated crystals up to a pound in weight had been found loose in surrounding soils and worked up by manufacturers of dental supplies for coloring artificial teeth. These were also found embedded in Quartz and soils throughout the 7 mile long valley. Note that the mass of this crystal is then pretty close to the largest size reported in the above notation. From noted East Coast expert, Skip Szenics: "Yes, you are right, it is important and impressive because it is so damn big for the item. It is the biggest, by far, Pa. rutile offered me. (If it was sharp & perfect, I'd find the way to pay for it!) The bruising is geologically normal as it's been rolling around in the soil hitting stuff for eons. 95% of the Parkesburg rutiles are this way. Its tough to get a really undamaged, sharp one from that alluvial occurrence."