Calcite (fluorescent)

Item Description

Standing tall and proud, this majestic pair of Calcites is from the Enshi Prefecture in Hubei, China. Highly translucent, when backlit the piece glows an attractive off-white, and the gemmy regions within look like pearly clouds with sunlight peeking through. The mercedes terminations are finely striated save for one area that has a slight, preferential etching, and there are several sharp, stepped molds where other crystals had grown. These impressions are cool, and they add so much mineral and visual interest to this cabinet-sized piece. Naturally, there is contacting on and around the base, and a few tiny bruises scattered about, but they are not unexpected and detract little from the nice aesthetic that this piece carries. The Calcites have a soft, blue-white fluorescence that is attractive and not at all like the intense orange often exhibited by the species. The habit is unusual for the area, to be sure, and the piece is much better in person. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl, a well-known German collector all over Europe with worldwide contacts to dealers and collectors. He started collecting seriously at the age of 14 and his great and varied worldwide collection reached over 6000 pieces.