108 mm Albite Moonstone
$ 64.99
ID20390
Location:
Skarvebukta, Seiland, Finnmark, Norway
Size: 65x108x82 mm (642 gr.)
Description
Translucent moonstone (rare variety of Albite) crystals exhibiting an amazing blue Schiller-effect typical of moonstone. Moonstone is a pearly and opalescent variety of Microcline, it is common to find it in large masses, but it is very rare to find it crystallized.
It is very rare to find, and when I search on Mindat, I can only find two places in the world with Albite Moonstone (Seiland is not mentioned as one of them):
https://www.mindat.org/min-27190.html
If you find other crystallized Albite moonstones for sale, you will also see that they are pretty expensive compared to the ones I am selling.
The specimen contains to giant Albite crystals in matrix. One of them is complete, while the other one got damages at the backside.
This Albite has Moonstone effect, but the intensity is very weak on this one. You will need both extra light and the right angle to spot the moonstone effect. It's a bit hard to find, but you will see on the video where it is.
The video and the 2 first pictures were taken with extra strong light.
Please watch the video for a better view.
https://youtu.be/2DJ2GM59AT8
Skarvebukta, Seiland, Finnmark, Norway
The location is almost at sea level, a place called Skarvebukta (on Seiland island, Finnmark, Norway).
The mindat location is not 100% accurate. The Norwegian word "Skarv" is the name of the bird "cormorant", and the Norwegian word "bukta" means "the Bay". Sometimes you will also see the name written as "Skarveberg", where the Norwegian word "berg" means mountain. Anyway, they all refer to the same place, and because I was there myself when extracting, I can tell that the location was closer to sea level than up in the mountains.
The digging was pretty hard work as we needed to rotate/break off large rocks using only hand tools. And I reckon most "easy-targets" are already extracted back in the 1980s and that you would need heavy tools to find more. Which again probably is not going to happen, because of far into the wilderness this location is.
My father loved walking, and even if the place is not so far away from the road, we always walked from his house and back, even when we have filled our backpacks.
Also seen at the considerable time we spent on this field, there are very little total of material that is good enough for collections. Remember that what I put up for sale is the best ones after my father spent hundreds of hours at this field. Anyway, we had much good time here, and I have many great memories.
And the best part is the Albite Moonstone. I remember discussing this with a geologist who was visiting the island when I was about 12-13 years old. My father liked this Moonstone effect, but he was never crazy about it. After he passed away, I realize that this Moonstone effect in crystallized Albite is extremely rare, and also valuable. I have some few crystallized Moonstones for sale, but mostly the Albite Crystals are without this effect.
In addition to Albite/Moonstone, we found Apatite and Hornblende very close to this location. The specimens were found in the early- and mid-1980's by my father.
The picture below is from one of our trips, that I took with my old manual camera. In white my father, and next to him a very good neighbor and friend.
