Name: Suolunite (rare color)
Brand: The Arkenstone
Price: 7500 USD
Availability: InStock

Suolunite (rare color)

This is an unusually attractive specimen of the rare hydrous calcium silicate Suolunite from the important find for the species at the Black Lake Mine in the late 1990s. The entire find was purchased by the late Charlie Key, who was always the sharpest dealer around, as "purple prehnite" at the time. He then sold most of the lot to the Royal Ontario Museum, and only a few important examples made it out to other collectors. This was certainly one of the best miniatures in the size class. This lovely display piece is composed of individual, translucent lavender, botryoidal aggregates that have subtle polygonal outlines that coalesce to form a larger botryoidal rounded growth. The luster is silky and the lavender color is easy on the eyes. Charlie Key was able to secure the majority of this find that was apparently a geologic aberration at the mine and it was initially misidentified as "purple prehnite". Interestingly, everybody knew that Charlie collected prehnite for himself, and so that may be why he was offered the pocket in the first place at a premium for "purple prehnite". Ex. Charlie Key to Eric Asselborn to myself and Wayne Thompson back in 2006, and now back with me again from a major private collection of rare species. This is a superb piece and probably the best example available for the current generation, to the market. As a side note, when we got Charlie's own collection, I had a number of thumbnail examples from which we experimented cutting gems out of. This material can yield fantastic gemstones, best of species; and those are also now in major museums. This is the best "cutter" we have seen in 15 years...but we will not cut it.

$7,500.00