Calcite with Pyrite

Item Description

This is a really good and very aesthetic Calcite and Pyrite specimen from this well-known locality in Missouri which produced this style in 1988-1989, and not since. There are at least a dozen and a half scalenohedral Calcite crystals on this very architectural piece and over half of them are adorned with small, less than 1 mm, iridescent Pyrite crystals. The Calcite arrangement is a very attractive and architectural grouping of intergrown, lustrous, translucent, dove gray crystals from 1.5 to 3.5 cm in length and display overgrowths of finely crystallized, iridescent and multi colored Pyrite. To be honest, looking at these under the microscope the crystals are wedge-shaped and look more like Marcasite than Pyrite or Chalcopyrite, which many of these are labeled as such and could certainly be, but I'm not sure about these! Some of the Calcite crystals are almost entirely overgrown, others preferentially overgrown on certain faces, and other Calcites are absent of overgrowth. A very well composed piece from Brushy Creek. Difficult to photo and video, so it is better, sparklier, in person.