Calcite

Item Description

The Calcites from Xianghualing are certainly some of the most attractive from China. This piece features sharp, lustrous, translucent, white/colorless highly compressed rhombohedral Calcite crystals forming "pagoda"-like shaped groups. The piece actually formed in two generations where the "pagoda" Calcites have overgrown scalenohedral white "dogtooth" habit crystals underneath. The piece is not 100% perfect, but it is in great shape overall. There is a small amount of golden "phantoming" in the form of what I believe is Pyrite / Marcasite that can be seen around the edges of the crystals for a nice touch. The largest compressed rhomb measures 2.4 cm across. China is full of amazing Calcite localities, and this specimen was recently mined at Xianghualing at the end of 2016, so even localities that have been producing specimens for many years are still pumping out cool display pieces like this.