FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Howard Heitner]

This specimen of axinite was part if a collection assembled in 1893 . The original label gives the locality as " St. Cristophe, Dauphine, Fr? " The largest crystals are about 2 cm. It was probably purchased by the American dealer A. E. Foote in Europe who sold it in Chicago
The matrix appears to be a group of white feldspar crystals, some of which are coated with chlorite. Does the label indicate an actual locality or is the the specimen from somewhere else?

[Pete Richards]

Here is a suggestive citation from the Axinite page of Mindat:

Gautron, Laurent, Meisser, Nicolas (2001) Prehnite from La Combe De La Selle, Saint Christophe-en-Oisans, Isère, France. The Mineralogical Record, 32 (3) 223-232

[Jordi Fabre]

It's a bit difficult to be sure because there are several localities where axinites with chlorite similar to this one can be found, but there is a good chance it could be from Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans.

It would also be useful to analyze it, as it could be Axinite-(Fe), for which Saint-Christophe is the type locality, but also Axinite-(Mn)

[Howard Heitner]

Thank you for your help. I think that the locality is Saint Christophe. The simplest explanation is the the person who wrote the label was not familiar with the provinces and political subdivisions in France at that time and put Dauphine by mistake.