Arfvedsonite

Very few collectors are familiar with this wonderful and fairly rare stone. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to and sold as Blue Astrophyllite, but this stone is not Astrophyllite (at least not for the most part).

Arfvedsonite comes from the same location in Russia as does Astrophyllite, but is a mineral variety unto itself. The primary difference in appearance between the two is that the “flash” in Arfvedsonite almost always contains some blue, or often silver, colored needles.

Astrophyllite does not have this blue coloration.

All of that said, we think that some of these stones may actually contain some small amounts of Astrophyllite as well. In a few of the stones we can sometimes see a small amount of the intense orange colored flash that is characteristic of Astrophyllite.

The very reputable dealer from whom we got these stones shares our interpretation that they are primarily to entirely Arfvedsonite.

Palm stones of this material are extremely hard to find.