added on 10/23/2024

Sapphire

This is a rarity from the famous mining districtknown for Lapis, and more rarely for sodalite and Lapis crystals. It came out of an old piece in the Obodda dealer stock that had never been cleaned and prepared until now, and I have not seen another like it. Emplaced high on a thick micaceous schist which is festooned with smaller sapphire crystals, is a lustrous and partially translucent sapphire crystal measuring 5.7 cm in length. The sapphire is mostly a deep blue with some white areas - mottled, quite unusually. It is simply an oddball piece from a really interesting deposit that produces a LOT of oddball pieces of other species. Note that there is one clean (invisible) repair to the crystal here.