Vivianite

A rare and strikingly beautiful purple, indigo and violet Vivianite from the famous Blackbird Mine Complex in Lemhi County, Idaho, USA.  Most collectors are familiar with blueish-green Vivianite from many worldwide localities and this is the colour we associate for this species.  However, this Vivianite specimen occurs in the Uncle Sam ore zone in the southern part of the Blackbird mine field, a zone rich in Cobalt, so affecting the Vivianite’s colour.  A complex dark granular matrix with a flat, pale powder-olive-green fracture surface is richly overgrown with substantial acicular Vivianite crystals, typically 1 to 3 cm long and on first observation, almost black.  On close inspection however, the crystals are seen to be wonderfully translucent to partly transparent and in amazing shades of pink-violet, electric-inky azure-blue, mixtures of these two colours and cobalt-pink.  The colours are mesmerising and almost unique.  This is a gorgeous Vivianite from the famous Blackbird District in Idaho and from the Dr Josef Clemente (1899-1987) Collection of southern Germany, who purchased it in 1985.  This specimen also comes with a David M. Crawford collection label.