Apatite with Cassiterite (ex Paul Zerfass Collection)

Item Description

Panasqueira is one of the more classic "modern" European localities. It has produced some of the most iconic Apatites in the world, and they are found with attractive associations of species like Cassiterite. This piece features dozens of soft silvery-blue colored, tabular, hexagonal, striated crystals of Fluorapatite associated with sparkling, black to golden to "coffee" colored crystals of sharp cyclic twinned Cassiterite on matrix The piece is in great shape with only a few contacts here and there, and it's an attractive association specimen from this well-known mining district. The piece can be displayed from a few angles, and these specimens are simply not seen on the market these days. The largest Apatite measures 1.0 cm and the largest Cassiterite measures 6 mm across. From the collection of the long time, beloved, well-known French field collector, Paul Zerfass (Collection #584). Zerfass built this worldwide collection over nearly 50 years, many of which were personally collected. A biography featuring specimens from his collection (along with his face on the cover) is in the May - June 2017 issue of French mineral magazine, Le Regne Mineral. We have a .pdf copy of the article for anybody interested in reading it (though it's mostly in French). Just drop us a line and know that you'd like to have a copy.