Golden Duck Bill Selenite - Specimen

Locality: Red River Floodway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Selenite is the clear, crystalline form of gypsum, a hydrated calcium sulfate (CaSO₄·2H₂O), the same mineral used to make drywall. Around Winnipeg, selenite grows as rosettes, many crystals radiating from a common centre, inside the thick clay left by glacial Lake Agassiz, which covered much of southern Manitoba during the Pleistocene. The crystals range from clear or very pale yellow to rich amber.

The Red River Floodway is a 49 km channel along Winnipeg's eastern edge, built to divert spring floodwater around the city. It was completed in 1968. Selenite was found in test holes and during construction from 1959 on, and rockhounds have collected rosettes from the floodway banks ever since. Later excavation to expand the floodway exposed more crystals that are normally about six metres underground.

The clusters begin as balls of intersecting crystals. Larger crystals can then grow outward from the centre, and these are often twinned into a shape that resembles a duck's bill. According to the Fluorescent Mineral Society, these duck bill crystals are known only from the Red River Floodway deposit. Under ultraviolet light they glow brightly and keep glowing for a while afterwards.

This one of a kind Golden Duck Bill Selenite specimen from Manitoba, Canada features a striking rounded rosette formation made up of translucent golden-brown, smoky amber, and honey-toned gypsum crystal blades. The specimen has a dense central cluster of thin, sharp, layered crystals, surrounded by broader flattened “duck bill” style tabular blades that fan outward in a flower-like formation. Its glassy lustre, warm golden colouration, sculptural natural symmetry, and phosphorescent quality make it a distinctive Canadian display specimen with strong texture, depth, and collector appeal.

Selenite is a variety of gypsum, a soft sulfate mineral known for its luminous translucency and delicate crystal forms. Golden Duck Bill Selenite from Manitoba is especially recognized for its flattened, beak-like crystal blades, which can form in radiating clusters, rosettes, and stacked formations. These specimens are strongly associated with the Red River Floodway near Winnipeg, where gypsum-rich clay deposits connected to the ancient Lake Agassiz basin produced unusually warm amber, champagne, smoky, and root-beer coloured crystals. Collecting at the Red River Floodway is now restricted. The floodway is provincial flood-control infrastructure, and digging is only allowed with provincial permission, so new material rarely reaches the market.

Spiritually, Selenite is often associated with cleansing, clarity, peace, and energetic purification. It is commonly used as a calming stone for meditation spaces, crystal grids, and home display, and is often believed to help clear stagnant energy while encouraging mental stillness. The warm golden-brown tone of this Manitoba Golden Duck Bill Selenite adds a grounded, earthy feel to the mineral’s traditionally gentle and clarifying associations, while its phosphorescent nature gives it an added sense of rarity and wonder for collectors.

Chemical Composition: CaSO4·2H2O

Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph.