North and Central Americas

0334 Vesuvianite, Diopside, Jeffrey Mine (Jeffrey Quarry; Johns-Manville Mine), Asbestos, Les Sources RCM, Estrie, Quebec, Canada

A small specimen of manganoan vesuvianite crystals with transparent diopsides. The perfectly terminated vesuvianites have varying colour from intense purple to very pleasing apple yellow-green and some gemmy areas. With exemplary lustre and good light reflection. Diopsides are transparent squares. Width of view of closeup photo 6mm. Stack of 50...

3539 Ancylite-(Ce), Albite, Aegirine, Burbankite, Poudrette quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire, La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada

Colourless to greyish, and pinky-orange crystals of ancylite-(Ce), or possibly calcioancylite in small cavities in albite. In the second photo, white (probable) calcioburbankite (Type Locality). You can see the hexagonal cross section if you look closely. The label said burbankite. Width of view 3mm and stack of 50 images (ancylite)...

ncat JR3 Benitoite, Neptunite, California State Gem Mine, Santa Rita Peak, San Benito County, California, USA

Two joined benitoite crystals (I hesitate to say twinned as I don’t know what sorts of twins can occur), shown in normal, longwave ultraviolet (red), and shortwave ultraviolet (blue). It is really interesting how different the surface textures look under each light source. Width of view 14.5mm. Click on the...