Description
Detailed Description
This thumbnail-sized specimen is a beautiful full fan of yellow stilbite crystals with good colour, translucence and bright lustre.
In excellent condition – from the front display angle, there is no damage except that the bottom right is incomplete, however, the way I would display it, this would be its base. At the upper left backside there is a small incomplete epidote and small incomplete stilbite fan, both angled out of view at the optimal viewing angle.
Highly aesthetic, colourful and amazing form for this locality.
About These Stilbites
These beautiful yellow stilbite balls from Mali made their debut at Ste. Marie 2014. Although there has only been a small trickle of fine specimens since then, the deposit at Diamonkara has once again produced a number of very fine pieces. As in 2014, moderate-to-significant damage was almost ubiquitous, and high-quality specimens like the ones in this lot are very uncommon. As a side note, although there has been a push to sell these as specimens of stellerite, none of the analytical work done to date has confirmed any stellerite identification, to my knowledge (and I am aware some analytical work has been done).
As for the specimens themselves, the good Diamonkara pieces are absolutely some of the nicest and most distinctive stilbites I’ve ever seen from anywhere, with beautiful colour and form. They are perhaps not yet appreciated for what they are – these are striking, colourful display specimens of a mineral that is often pale and drab.
