Hyalite opal mineral / gem specimen Spruce Pine NC fluorescent unique locale

Description

Back around 1970 or so, a buddy and I stumbled across a pocket of hyalite opal in a very small prospect just off the road, not far from the McKinney Mine in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. To the best of my knowledge the prospect had no name. I’ve been unable to find it since—it may have been destroyed years ago during road improvements—so, as far as I know what I have here is all there is, forever, from that locale.
The pocket itself was about as big as an end table, horizontal, with hyalite on both the top and bottom surfaces. The pegmatite on the top was already starting to fracture and some of the pieces had fallen; others were loose enough that you could pull them out by hand. The hyalite on those specimens was attached to the matrix.
Curiously, the hyalite on the bottom had detached from the pegmatite and was just lying there, loose. It was also a slightly different color from the hyalite above—a little more of a tan-golden color, whereas the hyalite from up top was very pale, close to colorless.
It’s all fluorescent, in the green color typical of hyalite from other Spruce Pine locales such as the Chalk Mountain Mine or McKinney Mine.
I’ve got a couple of specimens in my cabinet but the rest of this is just sitting and that’s no way to treat perfectly good specimens. With that in mind, I’m going to put up a series of auctions on eBay to release these to people who will love and admire them properly.
ABOUT THIS SPECIMEN:
Specimen #8
This specimen is from the top of the pocket. It is roughly 7.5” x 3” x 1.25” and weighs about 14.5 oz. The hyalite is nearly colorless to white, with perhaps a slight hint of cream.
Note that the purple in the fluorescent photograph is a reflection from my UV light. The only truly fluorescent mineral in the specimen is the hyalite.
The matrix is pegmatite, meaning quartz, feldspar, and mica, with a few garnets or, more precisely:
Albite, var: Oligoclase
Mica, var: Muscovite
Mica, var: Biotite
Garnet, var: Almandine
Quartz
This auction is for hyalite opal from Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, NC. Buyer pays USPS Flat Rate shipping to United States only.