NEPHELINE
Specimen neh-2

Dims: 3.0x1.5x1.7" (7.6x3.7x4.2 cm)

Wt: 3.7 oz. (105g)

Bou Agra, Morocco

This hand specimen is composed of two rare minerals. The better crystals are nepheline, while the bulk of the specimen is schorlomite. The nepheline crystals are prismatic and hexagonal, an off-white color, opaque, and with a dull luster. While many of the crystals are damaged (including the largest), several have excellent form. These also present nicely against the dark matrix. The host rock is primarily schorlomite, although there is quite a bit of massive nepheline imbedded in the matrix. Schorlomite is a rare garnet, black in color (resembling schorl, hence the name). There are a lot of crystal faces exposed in cavities on the matrix, although only one is a nearly perfect crystal of schorlomite.

Dims: 1.94x1.87x1.34" (4.93x4.75x3.40cm)

Wt: 2.95oz (83.5g)

Bou Agra, Morocco

This specime has two rare minerals. The best are black crystals of schorlomite (a garnet that looks like schorl tourmaline) comprising the bulk of the specimen. The largest crystals are white hexagonal nepheline crystals. These are opaque and have a dull luster - they nearly look porous due to a surface pitting. They also look very fragile, although they are not. One of the larger nepheline crystals has an odd appearance, in that it has a slot in one face, yet all of the faces have the correct hexagonal form.