Chalcedony ps. After Fluorite

Item Description

A superb plate with unusually good relief to the crystals amidst the solid covering, and good form overall. These beautiful specimens are rare survivors of a small find that produced GREAT carving rough for cabochons and jewelry made of chalcedony (it is after all gemmy and transparent/translucent!), to the detriment of the original specimens from our point of view! Charlie Key saved some from the lapidaries, though; and these are a few selected from his stash we have of this rare and beautiful old material from the 1980s. The edges look like blue lace agate in some cases, but are really just thick layers of chalcedony colored blue by an unknown chromophore. Some small pockets had fluorite crystals, that are completely altered to the same beautiful blue chalcedony, reminiscent of old material from Romania...this is the only other locality I am aware of that produces such beautiful blue quartz/agate pseudomorphs after fluorite. Valued $450-600, ex Charlie Key collection