Mibladen vanadinite thumbnails

Locale: Mibladen mining district, Morocco

Approx weight: 14–28g

Approx size: 0.75–1.25" specimen
Most affixed to a 1.2" black acrylic base using GeoKrazy putty; extra small pieces are on a 1" base, and option K is 1.5"

⚠️ BRITTLE warning! Vanadinite is brittle, crystals can pop out of place under pressure and more skeletal formations are prone to fracture at weak points. Be extremely careful if you remove the specimen from the base! I broke way more of these than I normally do when prepping specimens.
⚠️ FADING warning! Bright lighting can really bring out the color in these more translucent crystals, but extended sun exposure will eventually fade the color to brown. Do NOT store in sunlight.
⚠️ TOXIC warning! Vanadinite is a lead-based mineral. It is safe to have in your collection—it does not off-gas—but it is generally recommended to wash your hands after handling, and exercise caution not to inhale dust if you ever break the specimen.

Vanadinite is one of those minerals that can be so colorful and gemmy your brain responds to it like candy (a lot of people have the intrusive urge to put minerals in their mouth but that would not be recommended with vanadinite, see toxic warning).

The Mibladen region of Morocco is known among collectors for producing remarkably saturated red and orange-red crystals with good translucency. These thumbnails have great depth of color and translucency, with some good color zoning. 💡 Images were taken in bright daylight-equivalent lighting to best show the depth of color, translucency, and luster, but crystals will look a bit darker in typical household lighting.

Vanadinite is in the hexagonal crystal system, these thumbnails displaying that growth form well with large chunky crystals. Many pieces also shown variations on this shape caused by intergrowth of multiple crystals. The crystals are well-formed, though many show light abrasion marks along the face junctions due to vanadinite's relative softness. The luster of vanadinite rivals materials like Herkimer diamonds—it was a bit challenging to get pictures that weren't all reflection! The reflections can help highlight surface details though, like striations, stepped growth, and more skeletal formations.

It is common for vanadinite to be glossy and clear on one side, but a more opaque tan color on the opposite side. I have not yet come across an explanation for this (shoot me a message if you know, I'm curious!), but my semi-educated guess is that it indicates some sort of fluid or vapor deposition layers that altered the chemical composition toward the end of the crystal's growth process, but was only able to affect growth on one side.