Sussexite

A sizeable mass of pinkish-lavender-to-purple sussexite, composed of elongated, tightly intergrown grains with a splintery to fibrous structure, similar in appearance to the “gem-grade” sussexite of SSX1. It’s a classic example of the type of sussexite referred to by Frondel (1972, p. 79) as “coarse granular aggregates in which each grain is itself a subparallel aggregate of minute crystals.”  Frondel and Ito (1965) had previously shown, through X-ray study, that the “minute crystals” are fibers arranged in parallel, which accounts for the silky luster and splintery fracture of this material. The matrix, visible on upper right and lower left, is hydrothermally altered franklinite-willemite-calcite ore with brown serpentine and reddish-brown hematite. This fine example was in the collection of John E. MacDonald as JEM 1484 and is now specimen ERV-403 in the collection of Earl R. Verbeek.

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