Calcite stalactite (rare style - classic locale) Robertson Coll.

Item Description

A VERY RARE, dramatic and probably old large cabinet specimen of stalactitic calcite from the ancient workings of quartz in basalt in Idar-Oberstein, used for centuries for carving and lapidary art. This striking 360-degree piece is composed of two generations of calcite. Fantastic, second generation, facet-like gem, amber scalenohedrons, to 1.4 cm (some doubly terminated), are richly strewn on all sides of the smaller, densely intergrown, stacked first generation calcite crystals. Complete all-around and nearly pristine, with only a bit of bruising on the back side of the termination. Modest mustard-yellow second generation and modest pink fluorescence on the first generation calcites. Still today, the world center of the highest end of the lapidary crafts is based in Idar-Oberstein, though stone to work on is now imported from elsewhere. Ex Kay Robertson Collection # 5680 and acquired from Al McGuinness in the late 1960s. Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien-Welt" November-December 2017). Very rare, perhaps UNIQUE large 2-generation stalactitic calcite from Idar.