Aragonite (''floater'' twinned group)

Item Description

A beautiful robust "floater" specimen of these classic Aragonites, from the type locality in Spain. Aragonite is not often seen in fine crystallized examples, and a large number of the specimens from various world localities are white, grey or colorless, but the pieces from around the city of Cuenca in the mountains of east-central Spain can often show a rare PURPLE color. For reference, according to mindat.org, Aragonite was named, "for the type locality, the village of Molina de Aragón, Spain, and not the province of Aragón, a mistake made by several later writers". So the history of this species is directly tied Spanish localities. Chemically, Aragonite is calcium carbonate, like Calcite, but it forms at a lower temperature and the crystals are orthorhombic, not trigonal. This piece is a beautiful example of these historic and well-known specimens featuring a sharp, lustrous, translucent pseudo-hexagonal (it's actually a cyclic twinned group) crystals of Aragonite showing a combination of smoky-golden hues on the edges and gorgeous saturated purple tones in the centers of the crystals. The piece is a complete "floater", crystallized all around with no real point of attachment or any damage that I can see. There is no iron oxide staining or inclusions, which can cause an undesirable reddish-brown hue, but this one is clean and beautiful. This is from an older find, about 20 years ago, and good quality for the material.