Description

Detailed Description

This is a tall, narrow crystal of spodumene. From the broad side of the prism, it appears almost colourless, and from the narrow side, the lilace and light green hues are clearly visible. The crystal is heavily striated with good lustre. At the top termination, it has an interesting steep face with a slightly stepped appearance in the light The bottom termination is an etched-recrystallized series of small peaks. In excellent condition. The minor edge imperfections exhibit crystallized surfaces.

A really neat spodumene crystal.

Important Note About Colour Stability: The light green colour in these spodumene crystals fades to colourless upon exposure to daylight. If exposed in direct sun, this will happen relatively quickly. If exposed to indirect daylight indoors, such as in a display cabinet, the green will fade over a longer period of time. If you are planning to keep this specimen fully protected from daylight, the green may be preserved, although it’s anyone’s guess – over a period of months, I have seen no degradation to specimens kept in drawers (with no daylight exposure). If you are planning to have it out in a cabinet, it should be considered a colour-zoned kunzite, from pink to colourless. In general, like many other minerals, the colour in all spodumene is best preserved if it is protected from light.

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About these Spodumene Crystals

These spodumene crystals are from a 2017 pocket that produced colour-zoned (lilac/pink – pale green – colourless) crystals, along with some specimens that were purely lilac/pink and some that had no such hues at all. Although spodumene crystals are often etched or poorly defined, this pocket included sharp well-formed crystals and relatively low incidence of etching/dissolution features.