Chabazite, (var. Phacolite)

An attractive specimen featuring sharp, lustrous crystals of chabazite (var. phacolite) from County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The display face is covered with well-formed, slightly smoky-peach coloured crystals showing the characteristic compressed twinning typical of phacolite. The crystals are bright and well developed, creating a classic zeolite specimen with pleasing form and coverage.

The specimen is reported to originate from the Antrim region, an area well known for zeolite minerals occurring in vesicles within the Antrim Plateau Basalts. These Paleogene basalt flows host numerous cavities that have produced a wide variety of zeolite species including chabazite, thomsonite, mesolite, and others. The piece was previously labeled as coming from Killyflugh, a locality in Northern Ireland, though no formal mineral occurrence has been recorded there, suggesting it likely originated from one of the well-known zeolite-bearing basalt exposures of County Antrim. The specimen also carries an interesting provenance, having once been associated with the collection of Kay Robertson (specimen #2801), a prominent California collector specializing in European classics, and later the collection of Robert Yeoman. An earlier label reportedly attributed the specimen to the historic Ashcroft Collection of the British Museum, though that label is no longer present.