Diopside

A small group of pale greenish-gray, prismatic diopside crystals, most of them 2-3 cm in length, naturally weathered from marble matrix. An old, discolored paper label with the specimen gives, in pencil, the locality as "Hardingston” [sic], New Jersey, a misspelling of the colonial land tract of Hardiston, established by Royal Charter in 1762. Originally this tract encompassed most of eastern Sussex County, including present-day Hardyston, Vernon, and Sparta Townships, so the exact locality of this specimen is lost to history. This intriguing piece is from the Steven Phillips collection. Though it has not been analyzed, the pale greenish color suggests a low iron content, consistent with the suggested identity of diopside.

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