Home > Laskowski Ⅱ – June 29 > MS1828 Wiluite (California!) found 2003

Wiluite (California!) found 2003


Wiluite is a boron-rich mineral related to vesuvianite. Its story begins with Pallas (1793), who described the mineral and its discovery. Gallizin (1802) wrote how renowned Russian mineralogist Vasily Severgin (1765-1826) called the mineral wilouïte. In 1821, German mineralogist Karl von Leonhard recast the name as wiluite for his Handbuch der Oryktognosie. However in the 1892 System of Mineralogy, American mineralogist E.S. Dana considered wiluite synonymous with vesuvianite. After a century of obfuscation, Groat et al. (1998) recognized wiluite as a distinct species, in which boron exceeds 2.5 atoms per formula unit. Previously Groat et al. (1996) found 2.73 boron atoms per formula unit in samples from this California locality; this material is therefore wiluite.

This is a tight cluster of dark green wiluite crystals, mostly in parallel growth. The most prominent individual crystal measures 1.8 × 1.3 cm. From the collection of E.R. Laskowski (1949-2020), a mining engineer who retired to Tucson, Arizona. Laskowski self-collected this specimen August 16, 2003.

Price: $125

Item code: MS1828

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