DT Apatite xl (RARE - NEW FIND!)

Item Description

A striking, VERY RARE apatite from a NEW 2018 find at a most obscure locale in Orissa State (Eastern India). This sharp, doubly terminated fine green crystal comes from a lamproite field. Lamproite-group rocks are dark-colored magmatic rocks enriched in K and Mg and hypabyssal or effusive in origin. Lamproites are peralkaline ultrapotassic Mg-enriched magmatic rocks with all hallmarks of ultrabasic rocks such as elevated Cr and Ni contents (Mitchell 1991). They may contain apatite and spinel. This impressive, multi-faceted large crystal does not look like a typically hexagonal apatite crystal with the complex prism faces. It is very glassy, lustrous, transparent to translucent, has interior veils and selectively frosted faces. It does not fluoresce. The attachment is at the base and one partially contacted end. An important and rare large crystal from a NEW Indian find! 70 grams mass. Value of a rare large Indian apatite crystal?