Cavansite & Stilbite Matrix Egg — Vivid Blue on Pale Zeolite, Polished, 197g — Field Find

THE FIND
A polished cavansite and stilbite matrix egg, 197g — vivid blue mineral clusters set against pale, pearly zeolite matrix. The blue arrives first. Against the pale ground it looks almost like a piece of sky caught beneath the surface — too vivid to be accidental, too contained to be anything other than what it is. Turn the egg in your hand and the blue remains. Some things don’t disappear just because you look at them from a different angle. This one has been holding its color for longer than anyone has been looking.

WHAT WE KNOW
Cavansite is a hydrated calcium vanadium silicate mineral (Ca(VO)Si₄O₁₀·4H₂O) recognized for its intense blue color — one of the few minerals where vanadium produces a vivid blue rather than green. It typically occurs as small spherical or rosette crystal aggregates associated with zeolite minerals in basaltic volcanic rocks. Stilbite is a zeolite-group mineral (hydrated calcium sodium aluminum silicate) that forms pale, pearly to cream-colored sheaf-like or fan-shaped aggregates — the natural matrix in which cavansite most commonly occurs. The primary source of cavansite specimens on the market is the Wagholi quarry near Pune, India, though the exact locality of this specimen has not been independently verified. This specimen is presented as cavansite in stilbite matrix based on catalog identification; no independent laboratory confirmation has been performed. Catalog ID: FITF-0017. This specimen weighs 197g.

THE STORY
Cavansite was only formally described as a mineral species in 1967 — relatively recent in mineralogical terms — and it is named for its chemical composition: calcium vanadium silicate. The Wagholi quarry near Pune became the world’s primary source of collector-quality cavansite in the 1990s and remains so today. The egg form creates a tension that the raw matrix form doesn’t: vivid mineral color contained inside a form associated with beginnings and cycles. It works as a mineral specimen and as a display object without needing explanation to earn its place on a shelf.

WHY WE CHOSE IT
The blue is immediate and striking — the cavansite color against the pale stilbite matrix is one of the more visually arresting mineral contrasts in the collection. At 197g the egg has real weight and presence in the hand. A strong piece for a zeolite collection, a vanadium mineral collection, or any display that values exceptional color in natural form.

ABOUT THIS PIECE
Type: Cavansite & stilbite matrix egg (polished, catalog identification; not lab confirmed)
Catalog ID: FITF-0017
Weight: 197g
Origin: Not independently verified
Condition: Polished egg — please review photographs for crystal formation, matrix character, cavansite cluster development, and surface detail.
Quantity: 1 — one of a kind.