Salvan is a Municipality in the Valais Canton of Switzerland, a hilly, forested area boasting a remarkable 116 recognised mineral species and type locality to two, Françoisite-(Ce) and Marécottite. Despite this impressive list, the area is famous among collectors for the superb Brookites it produced between 1970 and 75, found in Quartz-filled clefts within Carboniferous slates. This stunning miniature is the quintessential Alpine specimen, using this term in both its contexts of geography and depositional model. Brookite is one of several polymorphs of titanium dioxide, anatase and rutile being the most well-known of the other forms. Five adjoined Brookite crystals have develop to form one broad, continuous crystal approximately 1.5 cm wide, displaying multiple terminations in a sawtooth pattern. Other Brookite crystals grow in parallel across the front of the broad plate, with a light scattering of tiny, gemmy colourless Quartz crystals attached to their surfaces. The Brookite prisms have a glassy lustre, with interiors of opaque, dark chocolate brown. It is only along the narrow prism edges where the Brookite becomes gemmy, showing off the internal, ragged moss-like interiors. The Brookite crystals nestle perfectly in a section of Quartz vein matrix covering a fine grained aplitic granite. This delightful miniature is mounted vertically on a square, clear acrylic base.
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