Prehnite

the grape of the veld

Prehnite rough specimen on dark stone
Provenance
South Africa · Mali · Australia
Mineral family
Calcium-aluminum sheet silicate
Hardness
Mohs 6–6.5 — wear-ready
Energy
Growth — The early-green frequency — promise before proof.
Prehnite was the first mineral ever named after a person — Colonel von Prehn, who carried it home from the Cape in the 1780s. It grows in soft green globes like unripe grapes and keeps a glow the trade calls “inner mist.” History’s first name-stone chose to stay green.
“The first stone to carry a man’s name — and it chose to stay green.”Named for Col. von Prehn · 1788