Phenakite

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The Tangen Feldspar mine is situated on the southern Norwegian coast at Kragerø in Vestfold og Telemark. It was a Quartz and Feldspar mine which worked a amphibolite hosted pegmatite on the western slope of Mount Sjåen. This site sill exists but collecting is forbidden by its owner. Although the mine recorded only twenty-six mineral species (not bad really!), many of these were very rare, making it a fascinating site. Its best-known species is Phenakite, the rare beryllium silicate, which occurs here as dark greyish-green crystals, an unusual colour for the species. This large miniature is a fine example displaying a terminated 3.4 x 2.1 x 1.9 cm Phenakite crystal standing vertically out from a matrix of cryptocrystalline opaque milky Quartz. It is from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) and is ex Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences pre-1989.