Calcite (rare locality) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

While Calcite is by no means a rare species, it's not common to find specimens from anywhere in Afghanistan. This piece comes with an old label from Sharon Cisneros (Mineralogical Research) which dates back at least to the early 1980s, and while I genuinely believe it's from Afghanistan, it's very difficult to know specifically where it was found. This piece hosts a group of prismatic, deep golden / amber colored Calcite crystals measuring up to 4.0 cm long, sitting on a sedimentary matrix. The crystals are tightly intergrown with good luster and wonderful internal gemminess. You can see that the Calcites show separation marks along their prisms where they were clearly growing against other Calcites before they were removed from the pocket. A few terminated crystals can be seen, but it's more of a reference specimen and an interesting esoteric piece of Calcite from an unusual locality. A beautiful blue-white fluorescence can be seen under SW UV light. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#11041). Kay was a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics. She nearly lived 100 years from April 1920 - March 2020. See the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record ( https://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/pdfs/Kay%20Robertson%20Collection.pdf ), and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017.