Calcite included with Stibnite (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

This is certainly one of the most impressive, aesthetic and top quality examples of this wonderful material from China. The Xikuangshan Mine produced these unique and beautiful specimens for a brief time in the early 2000s, and as far I know, there was only one pocket of this particular style. You might have seen the more robust golden Calcite crystals with Stibnite from this mine, or the thin "discs" of Calcite with Stibnite, but this piece features a different crystal habit in the form of superb, glistening, vitreous, gemmy, soft yellow colored scalenohedra which are included with thin prismatic silvery metallic crystals of Stibnite, along with some Stibnite on the surface. If you look closely, you can see there is actually a small secondary ovegrowth of more equant trigonal Calcite crytals on top of the scalenohedra, for a nice touch. The largest Calcite measures 4.0 cm long. The piece is so dramatically three-dimensional and showy from several angles. You just don't see these anymore, and we haven't had a piece of this size, caliber or quality in quite some time to offer in the auctions. Priced at $3,000 in the inventory. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/smalestephen/ ) or on Wikipedia.