Calcite (var: Manganese-bearing) on doubly-terminated scepter Quartz (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

What an incredible and amazingly showy / aesthetic / three-dimensional display specimen featuring a stacked group of sharp, well-formed, rhombic crystals of soft pink color manganese-bearing Calcite measuring 5.5 cm at its longest dimension flaring off of a pair of doubly-terminated, well-formed, prismatic, gemmy / translucent scepter habit Quartz prisms and no matrix. The Quartz crystals have a tiny bit of a green tinge in areas due to a small amount of included Hedenbergite. The entire piece is essentially a complete "floater" with no real point of attachment and no real damage that I can find anywhere. If you look on the side of the Calcite group, you'll see a couple of GEM quality, colorless "ice" crystals of Fluorite for a great touch. You can't ask for a dramatic presentation with the Calcite so beautifully rocketing off the side of the piece. I can't remember having another one quite like this from Huanggang, and it's a truly impressive small cabinet sized from this prolific locality in Inner Mongolia. Priced at $2,200 in our 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.