Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Androy, Madagascar
SIZE : 3 x 2.5 cm

This saphirine is well-crystallized and dark blue, it has hexagonal outline. It measures 3 x 2.5 cm

Saphirine crystal on a matrix comes from Androy area in Madagascar, it has been acquired thanks to support from Total.

This sample is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Saphirine

HISTORY : Named because of its colour blue as saphir

Species described in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Giesecke, born Johann Georg Metzler (1761-1833), German artist and mineralogist

Type-locality: Fiskenaesset, Kitaa, Groënland

CHEMICAL FORMULA : (Al,Mg)8 (Al,Si)6 O20
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Monoclinic
COLOR : Light blue, light green, white, gray, yellow, red
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Undistinctit crystals, tabular, grains or aggregates
HARDNESS : 7,5
DENSITY : 3,486

CHEMICAL CLASS : VIII - Silicates
GROUP : Aenigmatite-saphirine
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 8/F.15-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 9.DH.40

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Saphirine

MNHN N°193.84

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