Detailed information
Species
Childrenite, Quartz
Dimensions
48 x 104 x 64
mm
Weight
254 g
Locality
Ilha claim, Taquaral Jequitinhonha valley Minas Gerais, Brazil
Condition
No recorded repairs
Childrenite is not, as some might think, named after a group of kids at school, but after the British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist John George Children (1777-1852) who discovered it in material from a mine and railway tunnel in Devon. An iron aluminium phosphate mineral, it formed cinnamon-brown glassy sharp, wedge-shaped individual crystals on chloritic matrix. Fast forward two centuries and exceptional Childrenite crystals were discovered in a completely different geological setting in Brazil - in phosphate-rich pegmatites. Not only are they geologically different, but crystallographically too, with much more elongated bladed crystals, but still with a rich cinnamon-brown colour. In terms of the richness of crystallized specimens, this cabinet-sized display piece from Ilha claim at Taquaral in Minas Gerais state is stunning, with a large convex surface in Quartz almost totally carpeted in sprays of 4 to 5 mm long, perfectly-formed bladed Childrenite crystals. This is a world-class display-worthy specimen of what remains a very rare species.