Terminated VIVIANITE Crystals--Anloua, Cameroon--E&R Crystals Label--G. Meieran!

Description

I'm pleased to offer this specimen of Vivianite from Anloua, Adamawa Region, Cameroon. The crystal cluster measures 3.28 x 1.20 x 1.08 inches or 8.32 x 3.04 x 2.74cm and is from a Phoenix, Arizona collection. This comes with a label from E & R Crystals--formerly operated by Dr. Gene and Rosalind "Roz" Meieran from addresses in Los Altos Hills, California and Phoenix, Arizona. The Meieran's are world renown for their incredible collection and generosity to museums. They dabbled in the sale of minerals from 1969 to 1999 with the last decade being in Phoenix, Arizona. I believe that this piece was acquired during their time in Phoenix as the bottom of the label is cropped and this style of label typically showed their Los Altos Hills address at the bottom. It would be easy to simply cut the bottom of the label to make the labels still useful even after their move.
The Anloua vivianite occurrence is famous for producing exceptionally large vivianite crystals---the largest in the world. Some reached lengths to 1.35 meters and clusters nearly 4 meters across were found in essentially swampland. The occurrence was discovered by accident circa 1920 and the best crystals were recovered by Ecole de Mines mineralogists. The Ecole de Mines (now Mines ParisTech) museum has a magnificent display of crystals from this location---these were collected by staff when Cameroon was under French colonial rule.
As with all vivianite specimens, this should be kept in the dark and should not be overly handled. This piece shows cleaved faces on one side but does show feathery terminations typical of the find. Given the age of the specimen, this should be fine if displayed and handled at a minimum. The piece should be kept in a drawer or, at the very least, covered if in a display case. Many minerals are light sensitive and a good friend keeps his Chinese realgar and Thomas Range topaz specimens on display but has cleverly made opaque covers for the specimens that can easily be lifted to show off the specimens to lucky visitors.
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I buy collections! Please contact me if you have a collection for sale or know of one that is available. I will pay a finder's fee to anyone that can point me to an eventual purchase!