Titanite

Unknown Owner

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This is a huge, gorgeous, sharply formed, twinned, very colorful Titanite from arguably the best historical locality in the world for large crystals of the species! It measures 5.5 inches from tip to tip and 1 inch in width - which is monumental for the species! It's other attributes are just as amazing, with a gorgeous green to green-yellow color, incredible glassy luster, large total gem areas and of course its conspicuous fishtail twinning right down the front of the crystal as a deep and pronounced V-shaped furrow! A commanding and impressive crystal. I personally believe that this deposit has produced the finest and largest Titanite specimens ever found. For sheer size and perfection of form, these are breathtaking and this is no exception! Ths style came out from the late 1970s into the very early 1980s, and then only smaller crystals ever came after that. More information available in The Mineralogical Record issue on Capelinha, May - June 2022, Vol. 53, No. 3 - order here. This dramatic specimen has a long history. I first saw it in a friend's collection in the late 1990s (Robert Nowakowski, a well known Michigan collector specializing in suites of large crystals); and then bought it from him and sold it to Ed David. I obtained it again when I bought and sold Ed David's collection in 2005, and then it sold to Jack Halpern, and Jack has owned it ever since. However, it sold so quickly in the past that nobody ever sent to the lab for cleaning, and so this is the first time since about 1980s that it has actually been cleaned, revealing better luster and color. This large crystal has no damage of note, no repairs, no restorations. Sometimes we use the word "important " rather loosely, but this actually is an important crystal for the locality, the species, and great provenance. Featured in the book Addicted to Beauty: The Legacy of Jack Halpern (Mineralogical Record, March 2025) on page 109, fig. 103.