Lepidolite Value, Price, and Jewelry Information
Reddish granular or massive lepidolite is usually slabbed for ornamental purposes, such as ashtrays paperweights, and bookends. Faceted micas are virtually nonexistent because of the perfection of the cleavage and the variable hardness within crystals.
LEPIDOLITE Mica family.
Optics:a = 1.525-1.548; β= 1.551-1.585; γ= 1.554-1.587.
Biaxial ( - ), 2V= 0-58°.
Occurrence: Almost exclusively in granite pegmatites; also in tin veins.
San Diego County California: Gunnison, Colorado; Black Hills. South Dakota; Wyoming; Arizona; New Mexico; New England, especially Maine.
Sweden; Germany: Finland; Czechoslovakia; USSR; Madagascar; Japan; Bikita, Zimbabwe. Brazil: fine pink and reddish crystals.
Comments: Reddish granular or massive lepidolite is usually slabbed for ornamental purposes, such as ashtrays paperweights, and bookends. Faceted micas are virtually nonexistent because of the perfection of the cleavage and the variable hardness within crystals.
Name: From the Greek lepis, (scale) because of the scaly nature of the massive material.
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