Bastnäsite-(Ce)

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Zagi Mountain in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan is renowned for having produced some of the world's finest Bastnäsite-(Ce) crystals in terms of size and form and colour. Their presence there was discovered in about 1999 and for the next decade top class crystals, on and off matrix, were available, but the source has dried up. This wonderful individual off-matrix hexagonal prismatic crystal is now a classic. Reaching 2.8 cm in length this is a significant size for a world Bastnäsite-(Ce) crystal, and it is very shapely with six sharp prism sides and a lovely sloping termination with an unusual central groove. The crystal is orange-brown in colour darkening upwards. Its lower half is actually more golden, caused by internal reflections from inclusions of golden needles of Rutile and its uneven fractured base has been mounted on an acryllic block for display and handling. A worldclass Bastnäsite-(Ce). From the superb systematic collection assembled by brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).