POLYLITHIONITE
Specimen pth-1

Dims:1.7x1.0x0.7" (4.3x2.5x1.8 cm)

Wt: 0.8oz. (23g)

Varutrask, North Sweden

This specimen consists of hundreds of intergrown micaceous crystals of polylithionite. These crystals are silvery white in color, and so intergrown that the monoclinic form can not be determined. It is translucent around the edges where thinnest. There is some minor abrasion damage on some of the faces.

Dims: 1.3x1.5x1.4" (3.3x3.7x3.5 cm)

Wt: 0.6 oz. (18.0g)

Mt. St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada

This small specimen consists of a clear colorless polylithionite mica in medium and large crystals perched upon a leifite base. The sheets of polylithionite are arranged in a flat rosette. It also fluoresces a sky blue color (not the usual lemon yellow) under short-wave UV. The leifite is in the form of a dense array of white acicular crystals, showing the proper lengthwise striations.

Dims: 1.70x1.60x1.57" (4.32x4.07x3.98cm)

Wt: 2.61oz (74.1g)

Khibiny, Russia

This is a largely featureless and non-descript specimen of polylithionite. It is microcrystalline, nearly massive, and has a nearly greasy feel (but not as greasy as talc). It takes a loupe to reveal any crystals, which do exist as tiny books of rounded plates forming small mammilary formations. Also in a loupe, some of the crystals show reflections from flat surfaces. There are other minerals present, including many dark areas, a dusting of brown crystals, a few spots of a green mineral, and some tiny quartz crystals. Over-all, this just looks like a chunk of a featureless rock, rather light for its size.