Sodalite (var: Hackmanite)

Sodalite (var: Hackmanite)This is one of only a handful of Hackmanite gems that I've had to offer from Afghanistan, as they are amazingly difficult to find. Sodalite is a very durable stone and that's why it is so popular among dealers and collectors alike. The gem variety of Sodalite is called Hackmanite and the material is tenebrescent, which is the process by which a mineral changes daylight color after being exposed to ultra violet light. This particular stone shows a good

blue color cubic crystal of this hard-to-find species on matrix

Well known Colorado collector George Robertson gave this piece to me (more appropriately my parents) as a present for my first birthday after a digging trip to the area a few months prior

so it's almost a complete "floater"

and for the most part

so keep this in mind when you see the material offered for sale

These are true Alpine classics

This is one of the very few specimens of Augelite with Chlorargyrite that I have seen from Machacamarca and the color contrast makes for a pleasing specimen

it's a special and unique specimen

A superb small cabinet display specimen featuring a large (nearly a full inch) free-standing Spinel crystal with very sharp

but the thin “blood vessel” patterns

One of the interesting characteristics of Hackmanite is that it is tenebrescent which is the process by which a mineral changes color after being exposed to ultra-violet light

these specimens that showed up in Tucson are some of the most colorful and certainly aesthetic Halites you'll see from any locality