HIDDENITE[GEM]
Listing description
The first specimens of the hiddenite variety of
spodumene were recovered about 1879 near the tiny settlement of White Plains,
west of Stony Point, Alexander County,
North Carolina. According to contemporary accounts, a young man
named Lackey brought them to the attention of J.A.D. Stephenson, a local
merchant who was also an ardent collector of minerals. Initially, the yellowish
to greenish-yellow hiddenites were thought to be gemmy diopside. Stephenson brought
the discovery to the attention of exploration geologist William Earl Hidden,
who had been commissioned by Thomas Edison to search for any sources of
platinum in North Carolina (an effort that was, in and of itself,
unsuccessful).
Detailed description
Hidden sent samples of the odd green material
to J. Lawrence Smith,
a prominent chemist and mineralogist of Louisville, Kentucky. Smith correctly
identified the specimens as being a variety of spodumene, and named them
"hiddenite" in honor of Hidden. The community in which the gemstones
were first found would later be renamed "Hiddenite".
During the hey-day of hiddenite mining in the 1880s and 1890s it was also known
as "lithia emerald". Hidden recognized the value of the emeralds and
the potential of the new gemmy green spodumene. He acquired a tract of poor
quality land, which was either the site of the initial discovery or near to it,
for $1500. The Emerald and Hiddenite Mining Company was organized and
excavations on the site quickly recovered loose hiddenites and emeralds in the
red, gravelly clay. At a depth of about 26 feet they struck bedrock and soon
were recovering hiddenites from solid rock. Oddly, period newspaper accounts
and statements by George Frederick Kunz (1892) indicate that mining on the site was never
undertaken as a full-time operation, but was only prosecuted a few weeks or
months during the summer. Writing in 1892, Kunz described the hiddenite being
recovered as "always transparent, ranges from colorless (rare) to a light
yellow, into a yellowish green, then into a deep yellow emerald green.
Sometimes an entire crystal has a uniform green color, but generally one end is
yellow and the other green." Kunz noted that the finest crystal recovered
prior to 1892 measured 68 mm tall, and could have cut a gem of 5.5ct
estimated weight. The size of most cut gems were small, with a 2ct hiddenite in
the Augustus C. Hamlin collection being considered among the finest of the
large stones.
In addition to the North Carolina locality,
Hiddenite has also been found in Brazil, China, and Madagascar. Green spodumene
found in Afghanistan and Pakistan has excited
modest amounts of controversy in the mineral and gemological communities with
debate over whether or not it should be truly considered "hiddenite"
as well as claims that the green coloration is induced by irradiation and is
fugitive.
PRICE
$922011.92/KG OR $419096.32/IB
For more information:
mobile: +2348039721941
contact person: emeaba uche
e-mail: emeabau@yahoo.com
website: www.franchiseminerals.com
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