Cavansite on Mordenite with Stilbite - image 1

Cavansite on Mordenite with Stilbite - image 3

Cavansite on Mordenite with Stilbite - image 4

Cavansite on Mordenite with Stilbite - image 5

Cavansite on Mordenite with Stilbite - image 6

Cavansite on Mordenite with Stilbite

$15,000.00

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Cavansite is common, of course. Readily available whenever you want one - at some level… However, THIS piece is one that stands way above the average, amongst the better examples I know of. The specimen is exceptional in several ways. Firstly, this has real crystals of idiomorphic textbook crystal habit, whereas 99 of 100 cavansite specimens are "balls" of crystals grown together, and lack such sharp terminations sticking out every which way. Most importantly, it has a very large cluster measuring 4.5 cm tip to tip, perfectly centered on matrix and completely terminated 360 degrees! It has a pleasing symmetry and shape, and is centered on WHITE matrix (a strange noncrystalline mordenite matrix with small stilbites poking through it) instead of the usual grey host basalt rock, or small white stilbite blades. The color is the deep blue with a hint of translucency, which I find most desirable. Blue on white is most desirable - better than blue on gray or blue on mixed matrix. The piece has been trimmed down in size to present as a balanced small cabinet size, suitable for most collectors. Overall, It is just so hard to find anything better amidst the thousands and thousands of "nice" and "pretty" specimens of the species out there. This is one of the most beautiful species on earth, common in only one locality in all the world in collector quality, and yet many collectors relegate them to second class status because so many have come out. That being said, this is a 1 in 10,000 kind of specimen, of which only a few pieces per year can match, with a style and an aesthetic that place it among the top examples of the species in my book. I buy the best I can of each year's production, and had none of this caliber this year - rather, this was a 2014 specimen that I had in the lab to trim down.