Epidote

This exquisite miniature Epidote from Green Monster Mountain on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, USA, is of museum-quality because of the number, perfection and lustre of its crystals.  Several intergrown crystals, three of which measure about 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm, are clustered with smaller crystals of the same high quality to form a miniature of the choicest aesthetic.  The Epidote forms blocky, tabular monoclinic crystals with wide bevelled edges and chevroned growth patterns along their pinacoid faces.  The crystal group appears lustrous glassy black, with hints of leaf to bottle-green.  In strong light some faces have a striated-streaked deep rhubarb-green colour and internal texture.  An exemplary example of crystallised Epidote from the Dr Josef Clemente Collection of southern Germany.