Description

Detailed Description

This is one of the most intense red zircon specimens I’ve seen. These crystals are sharp, with glassy lustre, and vivid, saturated red colour. Most of the zircon crystals are intergrown in a cluster. In excellent condition, there is no damage visible as displayed. The large crystal has a chipped back lower edge, I would orient this behind the piece so it is not noticed as displayed. Stands perfectly as photographed. The zircons fluoresce yellow under short-wave ultraviolet light, as shown in the last photo. This is a stunner.

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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.