Axinite on matrix

This would be a sharp axinite cluster from any locality but, more than that...it is a fine old classic, dating back perhaps hundreds of years (although there is no way of telling, many of these DO date to the 1800s and early 1900s). Sharp crystals to 3.5 cm are gemmy, lustrous, gorgeous on contrasting matrix. They are transparent to translucent in person, although somehow difficult to photograph. This is a nearly pristine large miniature, of the type of old classic that appealed to Steve's sense of collecting minerals for perfection as much as for importance — here, you get both! It has been in the miniatures suite of the Smale collection for nearly 20 years, and was purchased by him in the 1980s. Such pieces are few and far between.