Celestine (great color) on Calcite (new find - 2023)

Item Description

This piece is from a new discovery in mid 2023, which produced an unlikely richly colored blue Celestine from the Badghis Province of Afghanistan. This locality lies far to the west of the more traditional specimen-producing provinces like Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman and Badakhshan. These specimens feature excellent crystals with a stronger than average color for the species, and they have formed atop beautiful golden-yellow Calcite for a stark contrast of color. This piece features a few rather sharp, well-formed, gemmy, strong "steel" blue colored prismatic crystals of Celestine measuring up to 2.3 cm, sitting on micro-crystallized Calcite matrix. The Celestines are intergrown in a way that, from a certain angle, they create a "heart"-shape, though they are not twinned. The crystals are in good condition, but I will point out that one of the secondary crystals is cleaved. A very attractive and certainly desirable specimen for any fan of minerals from Afghanistan or worldwide Celestines. I doubt many of you have one of these in your collection, so don't miss out, as we don't know how many more there will be going forward.