MADAGASCAR

Price Realised GBP 5,625

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GBP 800 - GBP 1,200

Closed: 25 May 2021

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A SPECIMEN OF BLUE LABRADORITE

MADAGASCAR

Price Realised GBP 5,625

Closed: 25 May 2021

Price Realised GBP 5,625

Closed: 25 May 2021

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

The free-form polished on all sides displaying a striking blue iridescence, specimen free-standing.
11 x 8¹⁄₂ x 3¹⁄₄in. (28 x 21.5 x 8.5cm.)

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

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Lot Essay

Labradorite is a Feldspar mineral boasting a diverse specturm of colour thanks to their varying chemical composition of calcium and sodium. The name derives from where the first specimens were discovered – within the Labrador Peninsula, Canada – but fine examples of this mineral can be found most notably in Madagascar, China, and the United States.
First coined by Ove Balthasar Bøggild in 1924, ‘Labradorescence’ was the reflection of light across multiple directional planes, which cannot be viewed from a single angle nor under a microscope. Whether in free-form, sliced or spherical form, polished Labrodorite under the right light conditions reveals a beautiful array of iridescence including blues, yellows, silvers and greens. When a specimen exhibits and richer and even rainbow-coloured iridescence (an even rarer occurrence almost exclusively mined in Finland), the mineral is then classed as a Spectrolite.
The colouration of Labradorite was considered so mesmerising in Native American and Inuit traditions, that it was perceived to be the petrified fire produced by the Northern Lights (). Now known to have gradually formed from crystallised veins of magma, such specimens are still renowned to this day for their free-form shapes and extremely decorative hues.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Bøggild, O.B., ‘On the Labradorization of the Feldspars’, , Series 6, Vol.3 (1924), pp.1–79