Colemanite
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The ArkenstoneFeatured
Turkish minerals are diverse and interesting, but they seldom make it out of the country and to the world markets for some reason. This is a classic and fascinating specimen from the borate deposits of that country with unusual color and crystal habit that I think most people would have trouble pinning down as Colemanite, much less from this out-of-the-way locale. I obtained a small lot of these in the late 1990s from a German mining engineer who had collected them while on the job at this mine, of which this was the best specimen at the time. it has now circled back to me in a collection and I have not seen more since then. Note the sharp phantoms inside which I have seldom seen in Colemanite before, let alone a root beer brown color! This color is unique among Colemanite worldwide! The crystals are glassy, extremely lustrous and transparent to translucent. The crystals are up to 2.1 cm in length and some are overgrown with a colorless secondary layer of Colemanite which produces interesting edge geometry. Gemmy orange highlights abound and it sparkles when lit. A highly unusual specimen. It is a significant specimen for what it is and a big surprise when you show it to people to try to identify. Colemanite is supposed to be unattractive and white, not fancy and gemmy and colorful like this!
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