Green Fuchsite Freeform Palm Stone - 44mm, 61g

Locality - Madagascar
Size – 44 x 29 x 29mm
Weight – 61g

This fuchsite freeform features vivid, emerald green and semi-translucent, light stormy grey tones with tiny flecked inclusions of silvery-gold pyrite, ochre brown 'veins' and a subtly sparkling surface. It is a nicely polished, rounded piece, ideal for holding or carrying. Green fuchsite is an unusual material rarely seen as freeforms such as this.

Fuchsite is a green variety of muscovite mica, its colour caused by high chromium content, with fine specimens showing rich, emerald colouration and a sparkling effect on its surface caused by fine grained crystals within it. It is often associated with ruby (specimens that are often incorrectly marketed as 'ruby in zoisite') and may also be included with silvery pyrite flecks. It was originally discovered in Schwarzenstein Mountain in Austria, and named in 1842 by Karl F. Emil von Schafhäutl in honor of the German mineralogist Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs. Most fuchsite is mined in Brazil, though it has also been discovered in India, Russia, Madagascar and South Africa. Fuchsite is one of the most commonly misspelled and mispronounced minerals, often mistakenly spelt 'fuschite' and pronounced with a long 'u', when it is correctly pronounced 'fook-site', as in 'book'.