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Shortite Value, Price, and Jewelry Information


Shortite is an exceedingly rare, not overly attractive mineral. Cut gems are among the rarest of all faceted stones. The material is a carbonate and is therefore fragile and soft.

HomeGemstonesShortite Value, Price, and Jewelry Information
By Joel E. Arem, Ph.D., FGA, updated on

Optics:a=1.531; β=1.555; γ=1.570.

Biaxial (+),2V = 75°.

Occurrence: Occurs in clays from an oil well, 20 miles west of Green River, Wyoming: also in clay from an oil well in Uintah County, Utah.

Comments: Shortite is an exceedingly rare, not overly attractive mineral. Cut gems are among the rarest of all faceted stones. The material is a carbonate and is therefore fragile and soft.

Pyroelectric.

Name: After Maxwell N. Short, professor of mineralogy at the University of Arizona.

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