Akrochordite

This specimen, a remarkable one for the locality, shows a spherical aggregate of akrochordite crystals implanted on a minor fault surface in high-grade willemite-franklinite ore. This is the only such large (1.2 cm diameter) spherule known from Sterling Hill. In nearly all other specimens the akrochordite formed within narrow seams and had little room to develop beyond thin, patchy coatings, as in AKR1. The finder of this specimen, John Kolic, reported that the blasted ore on the day of the find, in August 1979, was exceptionally rich in fibrous to felty sussexite, and that he found the akrochordite sphere by picking through a thick mass of such material, which had probably protected it from damage during the blast. John proudly displayed this specimen, known to locals as “The Rock Wart,” during the Franklin-Sterling Gem and Mineral Show every year in Franklin. It should be noted that akrochordite was named in 1922 by Gustav Flink in allusion to ακρόχορōου (akrochordon), the Greek word for wart.

Click image to change size.

View Large Image Only