Incredible Magnetite Octahedron's

I was going to save these for #Fridaysrock, but I have plenty of other rocks to share on Friday and these are so special I really wanted to show everyone.

As I mentioned yesterday, I picked up a bunch of magnetite specimens from a member of my old Gem & Mineral club. I normally wouldn't be attracted to magnetite, but these pieces were really unique. If they caught my eye then I am sure they would catch other people's eyes too.

The first set are these small, but impressive. The growths form these perfect triangles one on top of the other. I've beed doing a little research, but I have yet to find how and why this magnetite forms this way.

They measure about 3/4" or 2cm across.

Next up is this amazing mini cluster. I was so stoked to find this small specimen full of octahedrons. BTW, and octahedron is 2 four sided pyramids connected at their base, forming an 8 sided double pyramid. Fluorite and sulphohalite also form octahedrons.

My pictures really do not do this piece justice. It was difficult to photograph, but in real life it is stunning.

Next up the medium sized piece. One main crystal with two smaller ones attached.

Look closely at all the small triangles on the faces. Incredible!

And now the main attraction, the behemoth. I say that because the collector told me that these are very rare in this size.

These magnetite crystals are from Utah, just outside of Cedar City. They were found in a very small vein about 10' wide. From reading around the web they are very rare.

You can find smaller octahedrons, even some clusters, but this specimen's main crystal measures over 2" 5.5cm tall! And it was only the second biggest she had. There was one even larger and I am thinking I am going to have to buy that one from her too.

The more I dig into this gem and mineral world the more amazed I am. There are so many things to discover and learn about and so little time. I hope my gem and mineral posts are as fun for you to read as they are for me to research and write and can give you a nice peak into this wonderful, often unseen world of ours.

Thanks for reading! No back to binge watching The Expanse for the third time!