Description

Detailed Description

This deep red zircon crystal has an incredible internal fire under the display lights. It is sharp and lustrous, with a great termination. In excellent condition – no damage – the left edge shows a little rounding and ther are a couple of tiny spots on the right, where the zircon crystal interacted with other minerals as it formed. Stands perfectly for display as photographed.

This specimen looks best on a shelf other than the top shelf, so that the overhead display lights pick up the internal fire as you look down into it. The first photo is taken looking forward at the specimen, from slightly above. Fluoresces yellow in short-wave ultraviolet light, as shown in the last photo.

This is a great zircon crystal!

Browse more Zircons from Astor Valley (click here)

About these Zircon Specimens

These zircons are from a relatively large new find of zircons from Astor Valley, in Pakistan. A locality that has sporadically produced moderate amounts of material in recent years, this recent find produced a large number of pieces. However, fine zircons are proportionally very few. There are two key reasons for this. First, the zircons are enclosed within solid rock with other hard constituent minerals, such that a good number of zircons were broken when they were collected. However, the second reason is the much more prevalent issue based on the material I’ve seen: the zircon crystals seem to have formed more or less contemporaneously with most of the other minerals in the deposit – feldspar, biotite mica, and pyroxene – and as a result, most of the zircon crystals are not fully developed. Instead, most zircon crystal growth was interrupted by the growth of these other minerals, and therefore most zircons are simply incomplete, or malformed. And yet, among well over 1000 pieces I went through from this find, there were a few excellent specimens.