Treasure of the month January: The rutile star

1 January 2019

Photo: Karl-Christan Lyncker

The poinsettia has been hiding in the ice this year.

A poinsettia hidden in the ice? Where can you find something like that? This rutile star can be seen beyond the Christmas season in the Museum of Nature - Mineralogy and is our treasure of the month January.

The star shape has formed from bundles of golden yellow rutile needles enclosed in ice-like rock crystals. The rare find of this rutile star comes from near Ibitiara, Bahia province in Brazil.

Rock crystal is the name given to clear, colorless crystals of the mineral quartz (SiO2). Very often other minerals are included in rock crystals and form highly attractive combinations, as in the case of our rutile star. Here first rutile needles (TiO2), oriented on metallic black hematite (Fe2O3), have formed in a star shape. Subsequently, they have been overgrown by several rock crystals.

The Mineralogical Museum in the LIB presents a variety of unusual and beautiful crystals, minerals such as gold, silver and diamonds and also a 424 kg thick iron meteorite from Nambia.

More information can be found at the Website