[Rockhounds] Question on Boracite

[Doug Bank]

Referencing this specimen (https://www.mindat.org/52N-XRK <https://www.mindat.org/52N-XRK>), Rob Lavinsky wrote, "This is a classic boracite specimen from the Alto Chapare locality in Bolivia that was collected in the early 2000s... This thumbnail sized piece features a well formed, sharp, translucent, beautiful soft blue color cube of this hard to find species on matrix. The cube measures 1.0 cm on edge. Most crystals from this find are not on matrix, so not only is this a big crystal for the locality, but to find it on matrix is significant.”

So not only is your specimen more than twice the size of this “big” example, but it is also on matrix. 

Doug

> On Jul 6, 2021, at 1:33 PM, Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Chris W. Korpi ran Pangea Minerals, which no longer exists online. An
> online search for Chris Korpi turns up several specimens EX his collection
> offered by other dealers.
> http://www.classicgems.net/gem_boracite.htm confirms boracite crystals are
> small...
> 
> *Boracite* is one of the *rarest* of collector's gems. The only facetable
> crystals come from the Stassfurt and Hanover districts of Germany.
> *Boracite* crystals are very small and cut gems are usually very pale blue
> to green or colorless.
> 
> The Seaman Museum would get my vote for a likely home for your specimen.
> 
> On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 1:02 PM Larry Rush <larryrush at att.net> wrote:
> 
>> Some years ago, I ran a Thumbnail mail group, devoted to the education,
>> Information, and trading of Thumbnail sized minerals. One of the members
>> was a fellow named C.Korpi.We had a nice exchange whereby he sent me a fine
>> Bolivian Boracite crystal, in matrix.   TheAlto Chapare Mine was the
>> world's best source of these, at that time. Does anyone here know Korpi??I
>> no longer have his address.
>> The crystal I traded for, with Mr. Korpi, is a Terminated Orthorhombic
>> crystal, lustrous gray, 20X30 mm in size, in a bed of Gypsum, total
>> specimen size being  30X40X40mm.
>> Mindat lists this locality as being known for the large size of Boracite
>> crystals, with a maximum length up to 27 mm.
>> Taking this at face value, and having nothing else to go by, including
>> Dana, this means I may have one of the  largest Boracite crystals ever
>> found.
>> I am quite bothered by this potential bit of information, and am really
>> not too happy to be in this position.
>> Can anyone suggest how I can verify this, and if true...what should I be
>> doing about it, in terms of finding the proper site (a museum?) to whom it
>> can be endowed??
>> Thanks.....
>> Larry
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Rockhounds mailing list
>> Subscription Services:
>> http://rockhounds.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds_rockhounds.drizzle.com
>> List Usage Policy:
>> http://Tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Rockhounds/Rockhounds.shtml
>> 
> _______________________________________________
> Rockhounds mailing list
> Subscription Services:  http://rockhounds.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds_rockhounds.drizzle.com
> List Usage Policy: http://Tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Rockhounds/Rockhounds.shtml