Detailed information
Species
Wurtzite
Dimensions
14 x 31 x 17
mm
Weight
32 g
Locality
Merelani Hills Lelatema Mts, Simanjiro Manyara Region, Tanzania
Condition
No recorded repairs
Wurtzite is an uncommon hexagonal polymorph of Sphalerite and is usually seen as elongated glossy black crystals or nodular masses. In early 2013, exceptional reddish-brown translucent hexagonal crystals of Wurtzite appeared at mineral shows from Merelani Hills in Tanzania - the source area of Tanzanite, the gem variety of Zoisite. These remarkable crystals of this rare species were reportedly found in a single pocket encountered during 2012 and numbers were very limited. This very large thumbnail-sized individual crystal is from that find and was in the outstanding systematic species collection assembled by brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021). The crystal is beautifully formed with wonderful stepped faces and is terminated on both sides. One edge of the crystal is missing and on this side it has been mounted on an upturned glass bottle stopper for display and handling. With strong back-lighting the rich red-brown colour shines through and under UV light it fluoresces orange. These amazing crystals are widely regarded as the best of species for Wurtzite.