Benitoite Crystals with Natrolite on Matrix
Benitoite Gem Mine
San Benito County, California
18 cm x 16 cm x 5.0 cm
Out of an old collection comes this amazing museum quality specimen.
Specimens such as this do not come to market often!
Dozens upon Dozens of beautiful blue benitoite crystals, up to 1.3 cm, adorn this large matrix plate.
Many crystals are fully triple terminated, along with many not fully exposed yet.
Seeing 3 different benitoite crystal habits on the same specimen is amazing.
There are some beautiful micro joaquinite crystals visible where the matrix is exposed.
There are only a few small well hidden neptunite crystals that can be found on this specimen, which is quite unusual for a piece such as this.
All of the blue crystals contrast so well on the snowy white natrolite.
There is a lot of smaller size gem rough through out, but a rare size specimen such as this, with so much crystal coverage, should stay intact.
The bottom was saw cut flat, showing this plate was cut from a much larger piece of schist. It has old collection numbers barely visible on the back side.
There are a few damaged crystals, but mainly at the edges of the plate.
I know there are a few areas that could use a bit more work, however it was decided to keep this as original as possible for now.
With that being said, this piece could be in a museum as it is, or be the showcase specimen for your collection.
