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  • An exceptional plate of vibrant magenta-pink kämmererite crystals. The specimen is densely covered in crystallization, with larger hexagonal crystals up to 7mm scattered across a druzy surface. The rich purple-pink color is uniform across the piece, with metallic reflections from crystal faces creating a sparkling effect across the surface.
  • An exceptional plate of vibrant magenta-pink kämmererite crystals. The specimen is densely covered in crystallization, with larger hexagonal crystals up to 7mm scattered across a druzy surface. The rich purple-pink color is uniform across the piece, with metallic reflections from crystal faces creating a sparkling effect across the surface.
  • An exceptional plate of vibrant magenta-pink kämmererite crystals. The specimen is densely covered in crystallization, with larger hexagonal crystals up to 7mm scattered across a druzy surface. The rich purple-pink color is uniform across the piece, with metallic reflections from crystal faces creating a sparkling effect across the surface.
  • An exceptional plate of vibrant magenta-pink kämmererite crystals. The specimen is densely covered in crystallization, with larger hexagonal crystals up to 7mm scattered across a druzy surface. The rich purple-pink color is uniform across the piece, with metallic reflections from crystal faces creating a sparkling effect across the surface.
  • An exceptional plate of vibrant magenta-pink kämmererite crystals. The specimen is densely covered in crystallization, with larger hexagonal crystals up to 7mm scattered across a druzy surface. The rich purple-pink color is uniform across the piece, with metallic reflections from crystal faces creating a sparkling effect across the surface.
  • An exceptional plate of vibrant magenta-pink kämmererite crystals. The specimen is densely covered in crystallization, with larger hexagonal crystals up to 7mm scattered across a druzy surface. The rich purple-pink color is uniform across the piece, with metallic reflections from crystal faces creating a sparkling effect across the surface.

CLINOCHLORE VAR. KÄMMERERITE

Kop Krom Mine, Kop Daglari, Aşkale District, Erzurum Province, Turkey
10.9 x 4 x 3.8 cm
$4,800.00
$4,800.00
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ABOUT THE SPECIMEN

Only one locale ever produced this caliber of chrome-bearing clinochlore (known among collectors as kämmererite), and it’s the Kop Krom Mine in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. This is a remarkably fine and important sample, with a visual quality hardly matched… all sides are almost completely crystallized (even the bottom!) and the color is the most vibrant that one finds from here, ranging from hot-pink to magenta to mauve in incandescent light. What I'd consider the front consists mostly of a smaller druze highlighted with crystals up to 7mm, and the backside has less druze and a lot more larger crystals, almost more impressive than the front. These pieces all came out in the late 70's and early 80's, thus it's rare to find any of them, let alone one of this quality. It pops out with a color and presence that’s hard to match, and will enhance any cabinet!

 

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MORE INFO

The Kop ophiolite in northeastern Turkey is a forearc fragment of the Neo-Tethys ocean composed primarily of serpentinized harzburgite containing podiform chromitites - the economic ore body the Kop Krom mine was developed to exploit. Chromian clinochlore formed as a hydrothermal alteration product within these chromitite zones, where chromium liberated during serpentinization substituted into the chlorite structure in sufficient concentration to shift the color from the iron-green of ordinary clinochlore to vivid crimson through rose-purple. Despite belonging to the monoclinic system, crystals develop a pseudohexagonal outline and terminate in low bipyramidal points - translucent, gemmy individuals sitting upright on massive black chromite matrix, the color contrast between the two phases being the defining visual of the locality. Dietrich and Medenbach's 1978 Mineralogical Record account remains the definitive treatment. The mine closed in 1991, leaving all known material fixed to what was extracted during its operational decades, and no subsequent source has approached Kop Krom for crystal quality.