Artinite
Artinite, named for the Italian mineralogist Ettore Artini, comes as acicular white
needles in fractured serpentine. It was discovered in Italy, but far better material has
later been found several places in USA - f.ex. the Cisneros Claim in San Benito Co.
(California) and Staten Island (New York).
Specimen Handling
Artinite is for all practical purposes chemically stable in a normal household
environment, but crystals are very thin and brittle - and they are distinctly "don't touch"
specimens. It is not harmed by light, changes in temperature in the normal comfort
range, or known to decompose. It is not appreciably soluble in water.
Bibliography
Blackburn, William H. & William H. Dennen. 1997. Encyclopedia of mineral
names. Canadian Mineralogist, special publication 1.
Gaines, Richard W., H. Catherine W. Skinner, Eugene E. Foord, Brian Mason,
Abraham Rosenzweig & Vandall T. King. 1997. Dana's new mineralogy: the
system of mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, 8th
ed.
Hintze, Carl (ed.) 1904-1915. Handbuch der Mineralogie, vol. 1, section 2.
Hintze, Carl (ed.) 1916-1929. Handbuch der Mineralogie, vol. 1, section 3, part
1.
Murdoch, Joseph & Robert Wallace Webb. 1948. Minerals of California. State of
California, Division of Mines Bulletin. 136
Murdoch, Joseph & Robert Wallace Webb. 1956. Minerals of California. State of
California, Division of Mines Bulletin. 173
Murdoch, Joseph & Robert Wallace Webb. 1966. Minerals of California,
centennial volume (1866-1966). State of California, Division of Mines and Geology
Bulletin. 191
Palache, Charles, Harry Berman & Clifford Frondel. 1951. The system of
mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University
1837-1892, 7th ed. Vol. 2.
Pemberton, H. Earl. 1983. Minerals of California.
Ramdohr, Paul & Hugo Strunz. 1980. Klockmann's Lehrbuch der Mineralogie,
16th ed.
Roberts, Willard Lincoln, Thomas J. Campbell & George Robert Rapp jr. 1990.
Encyclopedia of Minerals 2nd ed.
This page is written and maintaned by Claus
Hedegaard
